Information AboutPidgin |
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CREATION OF PIDGINS The creation of a pidgin usually requires:
Also, Keith Whinnom (in Hymes 1971) suggests that pidgins need three languages to form, with one (the superstrate) being clearly dominant over the others. Pidgins become Creole Language s when a generation whose parents speak pidgin to each other teach it to their children as their first language. Often creoles can then replace the existing mix of languages to become the native language of the current community (such as Krio in Sierra Leone and Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea ). However, pidgins do not always become creoles—they can die out or become obsolete. Certain expressions survive from Chinglish , a pidgin formerly spoken in Southeast Asia . They have made their way into Colloquial English . Many expressions are literal translations from Cantonese grammar. These include, in English (Chinese character and pinyin) format:
Spanglish , commonly believed to be a pidgin of Spanish and English is actually not a pidgin. It is an example of Code-switching because it occurs only among bilingual speakers and retains grammatical and phonological properties of both languages. Caribbean pidgins Caribbean pidgins are the result of Colonialism . As tropical islands were colonised their society was restructured, with a ruling minority of some European nation and a large mass of non-European laborers. The laborers, natives, Slave s or cheap immigrant workers, would often come from many different language groups and would need to communicate. This led to the development of pidgins.Example: Papiamentu on the ABC Islands Pacific pidgins The Melanesian pidgins may have originated off their home islands, in the 19th century when the islanders were abducted for indentured labour. Hence they were developed by Melanesians for use between each other, not by the colonists on whose language they are based. English provides the basis of most of the vocabulary, but the grammar has many Melanesian features, such as singular, dual and plural Pronouns ( Bislama also has treble pronouns), and inclusive and exclusive first-person cases. Tok Pisin has words from German, and Bislama from French. All also adopt words from local languages. When words are borrowed, not only the sound and the meaning, but also the emotional content can change. In the most famous example, "bagarap" (not working, out of action) is a polite word. "Wikit" (Solomons Pijin for pagan, from "wicked") has no connotations of evil. The most well-known pidgin used in America is the now Creolized Hawaiian Pidgin where locals mixed the traditional dialect of Hawaiian with English, Japanese, Portuguese, and other languages of immigrants of Hawaii and Pacific traders. EVOLUTION The concept originated in Europe among the merchants and traders in the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages, who used '' Lingua Franca '' (also named Sabir ). Another well-known pidgin is the ''Beach-la-Mar''( Bislama, Vanuatu ) of the South Seas, based on English but incorporating Malay , Chinese , and Portuguese words. The Monogenetic Theory Of Pidgins , advanced by Hugo Schuchardt , theorizes that a common origin for most pidgins and creoles exists in the form of Sabir. Sabir Sabir was a common pidgin in the Southwestern ports of the Mediterranean. As Portuguese Mariners Travelled The Atlantic And The Indian Oceans , they tried to speak Sabir with Portuguese words in it to the natives. When English, French and Dutch mariners followed the same routes, they also adopted this "broken Portuguese" with the Lexical Influence of their home languages and those of the locals. This would explain similarities in pidgins and creoles as separated as Papiamento, Tok Pisin, Chinese English Pidgin and others. For example, the word for "to know" is similar to ''sabir'' (that gave name to Sabir itself). In Spanish and Portuguese, "saber" means "to know". In English it gave us the word "savvy". The word for "small" is similar to Portuguese ''pequeno''. In English it gave '' Pickaninny '' and it has been proposed as an etymology for ''pidgin''. COMMON TRAITS AMONG PIDGINS Since a Pidgin strives to be a simple and effective form of communication, the grammar, phonology, et cetera, are as simple as possible, and usually consist of:
ETYMOLOGY The origin of Pidgin is still historical myth. It is suggested the word is acquired from the Chinese pronunciation of the ''business'', but it may also be "Pigeon English" in reference to carrier pigeon. The Chinese name for Pidgin, 洋涇濱, originated from the name of a river lied in the boundary of France and British leased land in Shanghai. That name is retained in the form Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea and Pijin Blong Solomon ( Solomon Islands pidgin). Pidgin English was the name given to a Chinese-English-Portuguese pidgin used for commerce in Canton during the 18th and 19th centuries. In Canton, this contact language was called '''Canton English'''. HISTORY Pidgin English from "God's Chinese Son", written by Jonathan Spence http://www.hkfilm.net/pidgin.txt SEE ALSO Various Pidgins
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