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Maconese or Macau Creole(Known as patuá to its speakers) is a creole language derived mainly from Portuguese, Malay and Cantonese, which was originally spoken by the Maconese community of the Portugueses of Macau. The language is also called by its speakers 'Papia Cristam di Macau'(Christian speech of Macau), and has been nicknamed Dóc Língua di Macau(Sweet Language of Macau) and Doci Papiamçam(Sweet speech) by poets. In Portuguese it is called Macaense, Macaista Chapado "pure Macanese" or Patuá.. Patuá arose in Macau after the territory was 'gradually occupied by Portugal after the mid-16th century'. The language developed first mainly the descendants of Portuguese settlers. The language had strong Malay influence from the beginning. In the 17th century, Patuá had Portuguese influence from other Portuguese colonies in Asia, especially from Malaca, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Patuá underwent extensive changes in usage, grammar, syntax and vocabulary over the centuries. Patuá played an important role in Macau's social and commercial development between the 16th and 19th centuries. Most of the Patuá lexicon derives from Malay, through various Portuguese influenced creoles. Many words also come from Sinhalese, through the Indo-Português creoles of the Portuguese communities of Sri Lanka. Cantoneses and English also had many contributions in the words. The Portuguese contribution to he Patuá come mainly from the dialects of southern Portugal.