Filipinisms in the Historia general of J. J. Delgado: A Lexicon of Eighteenth- Century Philippine Spanish

Abstract

A neglected topic in historical linguistics is the development of Philippine Spanish during colonial times, probably because it has considerably fewer current speakers than American and Peninsular Spanish. However, the historical importance of Philippine Spanish is undeniable. The purpose of this study is thus to compile more data about this dialect, using a lexicon of the transcription of the Historia General de las Islas del Poniente, an eighteenth-century ecclesiastical chronicle by the Jesuit J. J. Delgado, a clear example of Philippine Spanish. Using Delgado’s text, this paper identifies the distinctive lexicon of this variety of Spanish, based on the concept of Filipinismo, understood as a characteristic Philippine Spanish term, a dynamic term operating in a specific moment in time. With this definition it can be seen that the lexicon of Philippine Spanish is not limited to loanwords from Asian languages, as might be supposed, but rather encompasses different types of words with diverse etymologies that answer the needs of speakers in particular contexts.