Date:  Tue, 28 Feb 1995 20:53:42 -0500

From:  "Peter L. Patrick" <PPATRICK[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]GUVAX.BITNET>

Subject: Re: Long time, no see



Readers interested in further sources on Chinese Pidgin English who

wish to consult reliable modern linguistic works might investigate:



Robert Hall (Jr., by the way) 1944, "Chinese Pidgin English grammar

and texts" in JAOS 64: 95-113 (Jrl of the Am. Oriental Soc.);



Philip Baker 1987, "Historical developments in Chinese Pidgin

English...", Jrl. of Pidgin & Creole Languages 2(2): 163-207.



The pidgin was used in coastal California into the 19th century, and

in Hong Kong until more recently (see K. K. Luke & J. C. Richards

1982, "English in Hong Kong: functions and status", English World-Wide

3(1):47-64).

    John Holm gives a brief summary of what is known (very

little having been written) in his standard reference work 'Pidgins

and Creoles', vol. 2.

    There has been a great deal learned about pidgins in general

since the earlier works cited in previous messages and it would be

surprising if they were entirely up-to-date in their attributions.

    The most detailed and careful work has been published in

German by w. Bisang (1985, 'Das chinesische pidgin-englisch', U. of

Amsterdam Area Studies no. 58) and A. Bauer (1975, 'Das Kanton-

Englisch:...' Frankfort, Peter Lang).

    As noted before on the list, some usages commonly attributed

to CPE are indeed relexified Chinese ("look-see" being simply Chinese

'kan-jian', "no can do" = 'bu ke-yi', "chop-chop" < Cant. 'chop-chop'

for "quickly"), but others which are said to be so are not so simple,

as Hall pointed out elsewhere ("Pidgin English and linguistic change",

1952, Lingua 3: 138-146).

    More needs to be done on CPE and its connection with both other

Pacific English- and Portuguese-related pidgins and creoles.



    --peter patrick