business is thought to be the origin of the word pidgin.
business is thought to be the origin of the word pidgin.
which english word is thought to be the origin of the word pidgin?
business
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.
chinese pidgin english
nigerian pidgin or naijá, along with the various pidgin and creole languages of west africa share similarities to the various english-based creoles found in the caribbean. it is especially obvious in jamaican creole (also known as jamaican patois or simply patois) and the other creole languages of the west indies. linguists posit that this is because most slaves taken to the new world were of west african descent. the pronunciation and accents often differ a great deal, mainly due to the extremely heterogeneous mix of african languages present in the west indies, but if written on paper or spoken slowly, the creole languages of caribbean are for the most part mutually intelligible with the creole languages of the west africa. the presence of repetitious phrases in caribbean creole such as "su-su" (gossip) and "pyaa-pyaa" (sickly) mirror the presence of such phrases in west african languages such as "bam-bam", which means "complete" in the yoruba language. repetitious phrases are also present in nigerian pidgin, such as, "koro-koro", meaning "clear vision", "yama-yama", meaning "disgusting", and "doti-doti", meaning "garbage". furthermore, the use of the words of west african origin in jamaican patois "unu" and bajan dialect "wunna" or "una" - west african pidgin (meaning "you people", a word that comes from the igbo word "unu" or "wunna" also meaning "you people") display some of the interesting similarities between the english pidgins and creoles of west africa and the english pidgins and creoles of the west indies, as does the presence of words and phrases that are identical in the languages on both sides of the atlantic, such as "me a go tell dem" (i'm going to tell them) and "make we" (let us). use of the word "deh" or "dey" is found in both caribbean creole and nigerian pidgin english, and is used in place of the english word "is" or "are". the phrase "we dey foh london" would be understood by both a speaker of creole and a speaker of nigerian pidgin to mean "we are in london" (although the jamaican is more likely to say "wi de a london"). other similarities, such as "pikin" (nigerian pidgin for "child") and "pikney" (used in islands like st.vincent, antigua and st. kitts, akin to the standard-english pejorative/epithet "pickaninny") and "chook" (nigerian pidgin for "poke" or "stab") which corresponds with the bajan creole word "juk", and also corresponds to "chook" used in other west indian islands.
nigerian pidgin