Chinese Pidgin English
| Chinese Pidgin English | |
|---|---|
| Region | China |
| Extinct | Extinct in China; survives in Nauruan Pidgin English |
| Dialects | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | chin1253 |
| Linguasphere | 52-ABB-da |
Chinese Pidgin English (also called Chinese Coastal English or Pigeon English,simplified Chinese: 洋泾浜英语; traditional Chinese: 洋涇浜英語; pinyin: Yángjìng bāng yīngyǔ) is a pidgin language lexically based on English, but influenced by a Chinese substratum. From the 17th to the 19th centuries, there was also Chinese Pidgin English spoken in 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).
A separate Chinese Pidgin English has sprung up in more recent decades in places such as Nauru.
English 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 (Canton), later spreading north to Shanghai by the 1830s. "Yangjing Bang English" in Chinese (洋涇浜, or 洋泾浜) derives from the name of a former creek in Shanghai near the Bund where local workers communicated with English-speaking foreigners in pidgin (broken English); (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 and the Chinese. Chinese Pidgin started in Guangzhou, China, after the English established their first trading port there in 1664. 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. Chinese Pidgin continued in use until about the end of the 19th century, when Pidgin came to be looked upon by the Chinese as humiliating (because English speakers considered it ridiculous) and so preferred to learn standard English instead.
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