View source for Chinese Pidgin English

{{Short description|Type of contact language}}
{{distinguish|text=[[Pinyin]], a system for spelling Chinese words in the Roman alphabet}}{{Infobox language
| name             = Chinese Pidgin English
| altname          = Chinese Coastal English, Pigeon English
| region           = [[China]], [[Northern Australia]] and [[Nauru]]
| extinct          = 
| familycolor      = Pidgin
| family           = [[List of English-based pidgins|English pidgin]]
| dia1             = Nauruan Pidgin English
| iso3             = cpi
| glotto           = chin1253
| glottorefname    = Chinese Pidgin English
| lingua           = 52-ABB-da
| era              = 17th–19th centuries
| speakers2        = survives in [[Nauruan Pidgin English]]
}}

'''Chinese Pidgin English''' (also called '''Chinese Coastal English'''<ref>Ansaldo, Umberto, Stephen Matthews, and Geoff Smith. "China Coast Pidgin: texts and contexts." ''Journal of Pidgin and Creole languages'' 25.1 (2010): 63–94.</ref> or '''Pigeon English'''<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://the-sun.on.cc/cnt/news/20100103/00418_010.html |script-title=zh:東方日報 亂世達觀：白鴿英語現代篇 |language=zh|access-date=2012-02-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416212254/http://the-sun.on.cc/cnt/news/20100103/00418_010.html |archive-date=2014-04-16 |url-status=dead }}</ref>) was a [[pidgin]] language [[Lexicon|lexically]] based on [[English language|English]], but influenced by a [[Chinese language|Chinese]] [[Stratum (linguistics)|substratum]]. From the 17th to the 19th centuries, there was also Chinese Pidgin English spoken in [[Yue Chinese|Cantonese]]-speaking portions of [[China]]. Chinese Pidgin English is heavily influenced by a number of [[varieties of Chinese]] with variants arising among different provinces (for example in [[Shanghai]] and [[Ningbo]]).

== History ==
The English language first arrived in China in the 1630s, when English traders arrived in South China. Chinese Pidgin English was spoken first in the areas of [[Macao]] and [[Guangzhou]] (City of Canton), later spreading north to Shanghai by the 1830s.<ref>Yamuna Kachru and Cecil L. Nelson, ''World Englishes in Asian Contexts''. [[Hong Kong University Press]], 2006.</ref> "Yangjing Bang English" ({{lang-zh|c=洋涇浜英語|p=Yáng jīng bāng yīngyǔ}}) derives from the name of a former creek in [[Shanghai]] near [[the Bund (Shanghai)|the Bund]] where local workers communicated with English-speaking foreigners in pidgin (broken English);<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Shi|first1=Dingxu|last2=石定栩|date=1991|title=CHINESE PIDGIN ENGLISH: ITS ORIGIN AND LINGUISTIC FEATURES / 洋泾浜英语的起源及语言特征|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23757088|journal=Journal of Chinese Linguistics|volume=19|issue=1|pages=1–41|jstor=23757088 |issn=0091-3723}}</ref> [[Yangjing Bang]] has since been filled in and is now the eastern part of [[Yan'an Road]], the main east–west artery of central Shanghai.

Historically, it was a modified form of English developed in the 17th century for use as a trade language or [[lingua franca]] between the [[English people|English]] and the [[Chinese people|Chinese]]. Chinese Pidgin started in [[Guangzhou]], China, after the English established their first trading port there in 1699.<ref name=":0" /> Pidgin English was developed by the English and adapted by the Chinese for business purposes. The term "pidgin" itself is believed by some etymologists to be a corruption of the pronunciation of the English word "business" by the Chinese (see {{slink|Pidgin|Etymology}}).<ref>{{citation |title = Online Etymology Dictionary |url = http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=pidgin&searchmode=or }}</ref>

Chinese Pidgin English began to decline in the late 19th century as standard English began to be taught in the country's education system.<ref name="McArthur">McArthur, Tom. (2002). ''Oxford Guide to World English''. Oxford: [[Oxford University Press]]. {{ISBN|0-19-866248-3}} hardback, {{ISBN|0-19-860771-7}} paperback.</ref>

Chinese Pidgin English spread to regions beyond the Chinese Coast. Many attestations of the language being spoken come from writings of Western travelers in China. Among these are scattered reports of the pidgin being spoken farther inland, such as in [[Chungking]] (Chongqing) and [[Hankow]] (Hankou), and farther north, in [[Names of Seoul#Gyeongseong|Kyong Song]] (Seoul) and even [[Vladivostok]].<ref>Baker, Philip, and Peter Mühlhäusler. "From business to pidgin." ''Journal of Asian Pacific Communication'' 1.1 (1990): 111</ref> Chinese Pidgin English was also taken beyond Asia: the large numbers of speakers in [[Nauru]] influenced the shaping of [[Nauruan Pidgin English]],<ref>Kim, Ronald I. "California Chinese Pidgin English and its historical connections: Preliminary remarks." ''Journal of Pidgin and Creole languages'' 23.2 (2008).</ref> and there is evidence that it was also taken to [[Australia]], where it altered due to the influence of Australian English and other pidgins.<ref>Siegel, Jeff. "Chinese Pidgin English in Southeastern Australia: The notebook of Jong Ah Siug" ''Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages'', 24.2, (2009):</ref> It is also reported to have been spoken in [[Singapore]] and [[Java]].<ref>Baker and Mühlhäusler 1990: 111.</ref>

Kim (2008) says that there is debate among linguists, including Baker, Mühlhäusler, and himself, about whether or not CPE was taken to [[California]] by 19th century immigrants. Many features present in California Chinese Pidgin English overlap with features of CPE, but also overlap with many other pidgins. Furthermore, some diagnostic features of CPE are missing or different from California Chinese Pidgin English. On the other hand, because many migrants came from the [[Guangdong|Canton province]] in China, where CPE was relatively well-known, it is likely that many migrants to the United States from China had knowledge of the pidgin. At the very least, it is clear that California Chinese Pidgin English should be treated as a distinct variety from CPE as spoken in Coastal China, because it has morphological and syntactic features not found in CPE.<ref>Kim 2008: 329–339.</ref>

== Phonology ==
Robert Hall (1944) gives the following phonemic inventory:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Consonants
|-
! Header text
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Dental consonant|Dental]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Postalveolar consonant|Postalveolar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
![[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|[[Voiced bilabial nasal|m]]
|
|[[Voiced alveolar nasal|n]]
|
|
|[[Voiced velar nasal|ŋ]]
|
|-
![[Plosive consonant|Plosive]]
|[[Voiceless bilabial plosive|p]] [[Voiced bilabial plosive|b]]
|
|[[Voiceless alveolar plosive|t]] [[Voiced alveolar plosive|d]]
|
|
|[[Voiceless velar plosive|k]] [[Voiced velar plosive|g]]
|
|-
![[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
|
|
|
|[[Voiceless postalveolar affricate|t̠͡ʃ]] [[Voiced postalveolar affricate|d̠͡ʒ]]
|
|
|
|-
![[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
|[[Voiceless bilabial fricative|f]] [[Voiced bilabial fricative|v]]
|[[Voiceless dental fricative|θ]] [[Voiced dental fricative|ð]]
|[[Voiceless alveolar fricative|s]] [[Voiced alveolar fricative|z]]
|[[Voiceless postalveolar fricative|ʃ]] [[Voiced postalveolar fricative|ʒ]]
|
|
|[[Voiceless glottal fricative|h]]
|-
![[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|[[Voiced labio-velar approximant |w]]
|
|[[Voiced alveolar lateral approximant |l]]
|[[Voiced alveolar and postalveolar approximants|ɹ̠]]
|[[Voiced palatal approximant|j]]
|([[Voiced labio-velar approximant |w]])
|
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+Vowels
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|[[Close front unrounded vowel|i]]
|
|[[Close back rounded vowel|u]]
|-
![[Near-close vowel|Near close]]
|[[Near-close near-front unrounded vowel|ɪ]]
|
|[[Near-close near-back rounded vowel|ʊ]]
|-
![[Close-mid vowel|Close mid]]
|[[Close-mid front unrounded vowel|e]]
|[[Close-mid central unrounded vowel|ə]]
|[[Close-mid back rounded vowel|o]]
|-
![[Open-mid vowel|Open Mid]]
|[[Open-mid front unrounded vowel|ɛ]]
|
|[[Open-mid back rounded vowel|ɔ]]
|-
![[Near-open vowel|Near Open]]
|[[Near-open front unrounded vowel|æ]]
|
|
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|[[Open front unrounded vowel|a]]
|
|
|}
Native speakers of English use this inventory. Because most lexical items in CPE are derived from English, native English speakers simply use the pronunciation familiar to them. For non-native English speakers, who were largely Cantonese speakers, [v, θ, ð, r, ʃ, ʒ] are not present, because these sounds are not present in Cantonese.<ref>Hall, Robert A. "Chinese Pidgin English grammar and texts." ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' (1944): 96</ref>

Hall also describes a few morphophonemic alterations. Many verbs ending in consonants may optionally add a vowel, as in [tek(i)] 'to take' and [slip(a)] 'to sleep'. Words ending in [r] and [l], and sometimes [d], optionally omit the final consonant, as in [litə(l)] 'little' and [mo(r)] 'more'. Certain stems also frequently lose their final consonant when before certain suffixes, as in [hwat] 'what?' ([hwasajd] 'where?,' [hwatajm] 'when?,' [hwafæʃan] 'how?'), [ðæt] 'that' ([ðæsajd] 'there'), [awt] 'out' ([awsajd] 'outside').<ref>Hall 1944: 96</ref>

Baker and Mühlhäusler point out that Hall's data was taken entirely from native speakers of English, several decades after CPE was widely used. For this reason, they are skeptical of the data presented.<ref>Baker and Mühlhäusler 1990: 90</ref> Nonetheless, their own presentation of phonology in CPE is largely the same as Hall's. They state that [s] and [ʃ] were not phonemically contrastive for Cantonese speakers. Words ending in [f] in English often had an added [o] as in ''thiefo''. Aside from these additions, Baker and Mühlhäusler have few revisions to make to the phonological claims Hall made.<ref>Baker and Mühlhäusler 1990: 97–98</ref>

== Morphology and syntax ==
{{cleanup section|reason=Bad formatting for examples|date=March 2021}}
Constructions in Chinese Pidgin English, both at the phrase level and sentence level, vary widely in taking English or Chinese structure. Generally speaking, pidgin languages have isolating morphology and so do not inflect nouns and verbs; CPE is no exception.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hall |first1=Robert A. |title=Pidgin English and linguistic change |journal=Lingua |date=February 1952 |volume=3 |pages=137–146 |doi=10.1016/0024-3841(52)90014-4}}</ref> Some morphological and syntactic phenomena, which frequently appear in linguistic literature, are listed below.

=== Pronouns ===
Prior to 1800, pronouns conformed largely to British and American English paradigms. Over time, ''my'' came to be the only first person singular pronoun in CPE, replacing both ''I'' and ''me''. ''He'' was used for subject and non-subject referents alike (Baker and Mühlhäusler 1990: 104). Plural pronouns were expressed as in English by native English speakers;<ref>Hall 1944: 97</ref> there is too little data from native Cantonese speakers to determine if they pluralized pronouns.<ref>Baker and Mühlhäusler 1990: 104</ref>

=== Topic–comment ===
In CPE, once a noun has been explicitly stated, it does not need to be stated again in following sentences where that item would normally be found. This means that in a given sentence, the subject or object may be omitted. In the example below, "very poor people" is the subject for the following clauses, although they do not explicitly state it.
*"This have very poor place and very poor people: no got cloaths, no got rice, no got hog, no got nothing; only yam, little fish, and cocoa-nut; no got nothing make trade, very little make eat."<ref>Keate, 1788; quoted in Baker and Mühlhäusler 1990: 100</ref>
The omitted noun may also be loosely related to the predicate, rather than a subject or object. In the sentence below, meaning 'He won't sell at that price,' the omitted "that pricee" is neither a subject nor an object.
*"(that pricee) he no sellum"<ref>Instructor IV.77; quoted in Ansaldo et al. 2010: 88</ref>

=== Copula ===
A word derived from English ''have'' was the usual copula in CPE until 1830. It usually appears as ''hab'' or ''hap''. ''Belong'' is also used. After 1830 it became most common to omit the copula entirely.<ref>Baker & Mühlhäusler 1990: 103</ref>
*"Chinese man very great rogue truly, but have fashion, no can help."
("Chinese men are real rogues but that's how it is, can't help it.")<ref>Anonymous 1748; quoted in Baker & Mühlhäusler 1990: 103</ref>

=== Piece/piecee ===
This lexical item seems to have been an influence of Cantonese grammar on CPE. Cantonese uses [[Classifier (linguistics)|classifiers]] on nouns described by a number or demonstrative. The word ''piecee'' is used where Cantonese would expect a classifier. ''Chop'' is another classifier, used only in demonstrative constructions.<ref>Ansaldo et al. 2010: 81</ref> Places where Cantonese does not use a classifier, as with the words for 'year' and 'dollar,' likewise do not have a classifier in CPE.<ref>Baker & Mühlhäusler 1990: 101</ref>
*"You wantchee catchee one piecee lawyer."
**"You will have to engage a lawyer."<ref>Instructor IV.32; quoted in Ansaldo et al. 2010: 81</ref>

*"Thisee chop tea what name?"
**"What is the name of this tea?"<ref>Instructor VI. 15; quoted in Ansaldo et al. 2010: 81</ref>

==Lexicon==
The majority of the words used in CPE are derived from English, with influences from Portuguese, Cantonese, Malay, and Hindi.

*{{lang|cpi|catchee}}: fetch (English ''catch'')
*{{lang|cpi|fankuei}}: westerner ([[Cantonese]] 番鬼)
*{{lang|cpi|Joss}}: God (Portuguese {{lang|pt|deus}})
*{{lang|cpi|pidgin}}: business (English)
*{{lang|cpi|sabbee}}: to know (Portuguese {{lang|pt|saber}})
*{{lang|cpi|[[tai-pan|taipan]]}}: [[supercargo]] ([[Cantonese]] 大班)
*{{lang|cpi|two muchee}}: extremely (English ''too much'')<ref>Ansaldo et al. 2010: 80</ref>

== Influence on English ==
Certain expressions from Chinese English Pidgin have made their way into [[colloquial]] English, a process called [[calque]]. The following is a list of English expressions which may have been influenced by Chinese.
* '''[[long time no see]]'''
:Is similar to the Chinese phrase {{ruby-zh-p|好久|long time}}{{ruby-zh-p|不|not}} {{ruby-zh-p|見|see}} ([[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]] [[Traditional Chinese characters|traditional]]), {{ruby-zh-p|好|very}} {{ruby-zh-p|耐|long time}} {{ruby-zh-p|冇|not}} {{ruby-zh-p|見|see}} ([[Cantonese]]), {{ruby-zh-p|好久|long time}}{{ruby-zh-p|不|not}}{{ruby-zh-p|见|see}} ([[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]] [[Simplified Chinese characters|simplified]]), meaning "haven't seen [you] in a long time", further meaning "we have not seen each other in a long time". The Oxford English Dictionary states that "long time no see" originated in the United States as "a jocular imitation of [[broken English]]."<ref>Oxford English Dictionary, ''long time no see''</ref>
* '''look-see'''
:({{ruby-zh-p|看|look}} {{ruby-zh-p|見|see}}) This phrase is attributed to Chinese pidgin English by the Oxford English dictionary.<ref>Oxford English Dictionary, ''look-see''</ref>
* '''No''' ''this'' '''no''' ''that''
:No ____, no ____ predates the origin of Chinese Pidgin English,<ref>Oxford English dictionary, ''no ___ no ____ and variants''</ref> but is also a notable example of fabricated pidgin English: ({{ruby-zh-p|沒|no}} {{ruby-zh-p|票|ticket}} {{ruby-zh-p|沒|no}} {{ruby-zh-p|襯衣|shirt}}) meaning [https://web.archive.org/web/20081217004313/http://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/special-collections/papers/notickee.htm "If you don't have a laundry receipt, I won't give you your shirts"], said to be a [https://archive.today/20091126062200/http://chineselaundry.wordpress.com/2006/02/14/the-racism-of-no-tickee-no-washee/ fabricated pidgin English] inaccurately attributed to the [https://archive.today/20130201031153/http://www.redroom.com/publishedwork/chinese-laundries-tickets-survival-gold-mountain Chinese laundry] proprietors. In 1886, a [http://www.americandialect.org/americandialectarchives/oct96384.html New York City bill] cited this phrase in reference to Chinese-owned dry cleaning establishments. In 1921 a movie titled ''[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0403355/ "No Tickee No Shirtee"]'' further popularized the saying. Another famous use of this phrase is "No money, no talk" ({{ruby-zh-p|冇|no}}{{ruby-zh-p|錢|money}}{{ruby-zh-p|冇|no}}{{ruby-zh-p|得|chance}}{{ruby-zh-p|傾|talk}} ([[Cantonese]])), which simply means "If you don't have the [[money]], don't try to bargain with me".
<!-- 
* '''No can do'''
:''The reference of "no can do" in ''[[Long_time_no_see#Origin]]'' (at the end), directs to the whole of this article (Chinese Pidgin English) as though it was properly directing to a proper article, as it does for "[[chop chop (phrase)|chop chop]]". '' -->

==See also==
*[[Broken English]]
*[[Canton System]]
*[[Chinglish]]
*[[Chop chop (phrase)]]
*[[Engrish]]
*[[Substratum (linguistics)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{EB1911 poster|Pidgin English}}{{Incubator|cpi}}
* {{commons category-inline}}
* {{cite journal |title = Using English in China |journal = English Today |date = October 2003 |pages = 42–47 |author1 = Wei Yun |author2 = Fei Jia |volume = 19 |issue = 4 |doi = 10.1017/S0266078403004073 |s2cid = 144838378 }}
* {{cite NIE |wstitle = Pidgin |short = x }}
{{Creoles, mixed languages and pidgins}}
[[Category:Chinese-based pidgins and creoles]]
[[Category:English-based pidgins and creoles]]
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[[Category:Languages of Australia]]