华人移民品钦英语的语言特点

查尔斯·霍兰德的《华人品钦英语歌谣集》是国外学者研究中国移民品钦英语较早的专门著作,该书以歌谣和故事的形式形象而生动地反映了19世纪中后期华人移民品钦英语显著的语言特点。归结起来主要包括:在发音上具有明显简化和替换倾向,构词方法主要以重叠和模仿为主,而语义上则以同词异义为主,句法基本是中文思维的产物。尽管本质上是中文的一种变体,但是华人移民品钦英语还是基本满足了他们社会交流的需要。

Linguistic features of Pidgin English of Chinese immigrants

Charles G.Leland’s Pidgin-English Sing-Song or Songs and Stories in the China-English Dialect is one of the earliest works written by foreign scholars concerning the Pidgin English of Chinese immigrants,which reflects some striking linguistic features of the Pidgin English vividly in the forms of songs and stories in the middle and end of the 19th century.Generally speaking,the features include the simplification and substitute of pronunciation,word forming by overlapping words and imitating Chinese pronunciation,the semantic polysemy,and Chinese-style syntax.Despite one Chinese variation,the Pidgin English of Chinese immigrants met the social communicative demands well.