6. Some aspects of NPs in Mindanao Chabacano

This paper examines certain aspects of NP structure and use in Mindanao Chabacano (henceforth MC). This is a mixed creole of the Southern Philippines in which the bulk of the morphs derive from the Mexican Spanish which was the major language of intercommunication among the soldiers of the Philippines when these islands were under Spanish rule (soldiers having been mostly recruited from Mexico). Two forms of MC are attested in any great detail. Firstly, there is Zamboangueño, the major language of the inhabitants of Zamboanga City and its surroundings. Secondly, there is the endangered Cotabateño, a language that is known to a minority of the inhabitants of Cotabato City in a creole community which linguistically is largely an early 20th century offshoot of that of Zamboanga. NP structures in these languages are identical, most of my examples are taken from Zamboangueño because I have more data from that. It will be seen that bare NPs are present in MC but are not any more frequent than they are in Spanish or in the Philippine languages among which MC was formed.