EL VIAJE Y EL TORNAVIAJE DE LA LENGUA ESPAÑOLA A FILIPINAS
THE JOURNEY AND THE RETURN TRIP OF THE SPANISH LANGUAGE IN THE PHILIPPINES

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the complex path of the implementation of the Spanish language in the Philippines, from its first trip to the archipelago in 1521, the subsequent colonization by the Spanish crown through the Manila Galleon route and its journey during the colonial and post-colonial period until modern times. The analysis of the bibliography reveals a multisecular stratification of the Spanish, reflected in its different manifestations: an already extinct pidgin (so called kitchen Spanish), a new creole language (Chabacano) and the Filipino Spanish dialect, the latter two still present in the Philippines, as well as numerous Hispanisms embedded in its autochthonous languages, toponymes and anthroponyms. It is observed the progressive reduction of the mother tongue speakers of Filipino Spanish, thanks to the imposition of English after the loss of the colony and its definitive abolition from the Constitution as an official language in 1987, but, there is an evidence of a growing interest of Filipinos in learning Spanish as a foreign language, due to its impact and projection as an international language. Therefore, we can observe a peculiar linguistic return trip (“el tornaviaje”) of the Spanish language in the Philippines in the first two decades of the 21st century.

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