Linguistics Special Lecture Series (LSLS) 2026 No. 1

19 February | Thursday | 2:30 PM (PST)

Pilar Herrera Lecture Hall (ONSITE)

The Linguistics Special Lecture Series (LSLS) features talks by invited experts on various topics under the fields of theoretical and applied linguistics. For the very first installment of LSLS 2026, visiting research fellow Jillian Melchor, doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki will give a talk on Chabacano and on the sociolinguistics and socio-politics of creole naming and language description.

ABSTRACT

This lecture examines the sociolinguistics of creole naming and the politics of language description through a case study of Chabacano, Asia’s only Spanish-based creole. Building on the premise that language names function as statements with epistemic value rather than as neutral labels, the lecture traces the shifting meanings attached to the creole through its naming across time, from colonial-era documentation to contemporary emic and etic scholarship. It highlights the complex ways in which creole language names acquire meaning, especially in the Philippine creole context where the reproduction of colonial pejorative statements intersects with the reclamation of ethnolinguistic pride. Beyond creole studies, the lecture also considers broader examples from Philippine linguistic scholarship to illustrate how language documentation can produce unintended consequences, particularly when scholarly classifications and descriptions come into tension with speaker perspectives.

This event is free and open to the public.