Now it’s Final: Chavacano must be spelled with a “V”

ZAMBOANGA CITY (ZNS) -  The following is the full text of what agreed among educators after the  three-day Chavacano Orthography Congress was held  Nov 19-21. The first  two days included presentation by researchers on Chavacano, mostly results from surveys conducted among selected respondents in the city.  On the third day  the newly organized Chavacano Orthography Council met language and Department of Education officials  and agreed on the following items: The items will form part of the guiding principles in the Chavacano Orthography that will be formulated and serve as the basis for preserving, propagating and development of the Chavacano in Zamboanga.

Summary of Points Agreed:

·        Etymological approach will be used for spelling of words. (This means that words of Spanish Origin should be spelled in Spanish and words from other dialects, that became a part of Chavacano, should be spelled in the particular local dialect of origin)

·        “Chavacano” must be spelled with “V”.

·        Alphabet that will be used consists of 5 vowels and 24 consonants. (refer to DepEd’s list)

·        Words whose etymology can be traced to an original dialect or language should be spelled and pronounced like the original

·         Coined words should be spelled as they are heard or pronounced.

6. Rules regarding accent of words:

·        Words that end in a vowel, n or s, have the stress on the penultimate (next to last) syllable. For example, toro, limonada, joven and zapatos. 

·        Words that end in other letters have the stress on the last syllable. For example, hotel, doctor ciudad, matador and virtud.

·        If a word isn't pronounced according to the above two rules, an accent is placed over the vowel of the syllable that gets the stress. For example, común, lápiz, inglés, and ojalá.

·        Written accents are also used to differentiate between words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings:

si - if
sí - yes

tu - your
tú – you

ole- to smell

olê- to repeat

  7.  When words are borrowed from other languages, rules used in the original languages must apply

·          Repeated words are hyphenated.  Example is “bira-bira”

·         Words should be spelled using English letter names.

·         Science and math retain their technical terms.  Example are photosynthesis, pi, square root, cosmos,

The congress was sponsored by the Office of the City Mayor and the Ateneo de Zamboanga University Language Department. The activity was led by Dr. Genaro Yap Aizon PhD, Executive Assistant on Education, Culture,  Arts and History.

The group will draft the Official Orthography of Chavacano in Zamboanga to be approved by the City Government and henceforth will guide the propagation, preservation and development of the Language. (ZNS)(112514)