#PIDGIN ENGLISH DICTIONARY LICENSE#

What was needed was a language that was simple to learn and understandable to both sides and that was geared to trading. When the first European traders arrived on Chinese shores there was no shared language that could be used for communication they must have resorted to simple gestures. ReadВ moreвЂ¦ Portuguese pidginД«ack though to pidginвЂ™s origins in China. However the strong military involvement in government has been on the wane for over 25 years. In theory the people elect representatives who decide policy, in practice the ruling elite are rarely challenged by the democratic process. China's structure of government is a power pyramid with the President at its head. The governance of modern ChinaGoverning 1,400 million people is no mean feat. A BBC Pidgin English вћљ digital language service for western and central Africa was launched in 2017. Pidgins are still widely used in western and central Africa where there are many mutually incomprehensible African tribal languages in use. In fact some pidgin languages have over time become so widely spoken that they became creoles. A pidgin is defined as a language used between peoples who have no shared language, it is not the day-to-day language of either party, if that was the case it would be called a creole. There are many pidgin languages still spoken today but it was the Chinese pidgin that was the first to develop. However it arose, вЂpidginвЂ™ became the word to mean вЂbusinessвЂ™ even if it did not have a similar sound. Another theory is that зљ®й’¦ pГ qД«n was pronounced вЂbizinвЂ™ in a local language that can mean вЂbusinessвЂ™. I find all this вЂbusinessвЂ™ to вЂpidginвЂ™ rather fanciful. So we have вЂpusinвЂ™ it is then claimed that вЂdgвЂ™ was the best match for вЂsвЂ™ hence вЂpidginвЂ™.

The way that вЂbusinessвЂ™ became вЂpidginвЂ™ is usually explained in the following way: sometimes вЂessвЂ™ is dropped from words perhaps thinking it is the plural form then вЂbвЂ™ and вЂpвЂ™s are closer in sound to Chinese ears - hence Beijing/Peking. Another possibility is a corruption of the Portuguese ocupaГ§ГЈo вЂoccupationвЂ™. A much more likely source has been suggested by Kleinecke (1959) who thinks it comes from traders who had had dealings with the South American Indians before the China trade opened up there the Indians used a word вЂpidianвЂ™ to mean вЂpeopleвЂ™ from this it could have become the general term for native people wishing to trade.

The pidgin word for pigeon is actually вЂpidginвЂ™ - so the different sound of вЂbusinessвЂ™ must have been blatantly obvious. The sound of вЂpid-ginвЂ™ is phonologically very different from вЂbiz-nissвЂ™, moreover there are several Cantonese sounds that would much more closely match it. However there is no solid evidence for this origin, but as Chinese Pidgin was used for business it is easy to see why this idea took hold. It is widely held that the origin of the word вЂpidginвЂ™ comes from the Chinese attempt to pronounce the word вЂbusinessвЂ™ (this is the official OED etymology).

#PIDGIN ENGLISH DICTIONARY LICENSE#

Brown вћљ available under a Creative Commons License вћљ Origin of the name вЂPidginвЂ™

Seen in the center background is the top of a monolithic stone fortress like building, the signature outline of the old Cantonese pawn shop. This image reveals the extensive canal system in old Canton (Guangzhou), though not as pervasive as those in Soochow (modern day Suzhou) c.

This is just one of a host of misconceptions about вЂPidgin EnglishвЂ™ which deserve to be straightened out. Pidgin has acquired a condescending connotation that suggests it was a simplified language invented by the British for foreign barbarians to use. Where do the terms вЂno can doвЂ™, вЂno pain, no gainвЂ™ and вЂlong time no seeвЂ™ come from? Well they all come from China via that strange linguistic curiosity - Chinese Pidgin English. Modern history People's Republic of China Future Leaders Government Space Exploration Economy Long March Republic of China May 4th Movement Language | Literary | Pidgin Pidgin English in China

Pidgin english dictionary