PALEOPACIFIC--South Seas Sandalwood English--POLYNESIAN PIDGIN, 1881-93

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The Paleolinguist Bulletin

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     (BERLIN)-- Considered to be a sub-dialect of Chinese Pidgin-English, information on this other form of communication between islanders of the South Pacific and English traders is scant. It appears to have the same history of the Chinese version, but the foreigners were bartering for the purchase of sandalwood, prized for its superior quality and fragrance. 

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 The Hawkes Bay Herald, New Zealand, 04 January 1881, Page 2

South Sea Massacres

Mr Walter Coote, a gentleman practically acquainted with the difficulties of trade in the South Seas, writes to the Melbourne Argus :—" The islanders have begun to argue that the white men are, to use a sandalwood English expression, 'all same woman, and that, although we often talk about inen•of-war, we evidently have not got any, or tho murders that aro so con. tinually taking place would be avenged. 

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The London Standard, 21 April 1888, Page 5, Col. 3

     They learn all the vices and few of the virtues of civilisation, and, with their amazing capacity for picking up a language, some acquire English of the " sandal-wood " order, as it is called because it was first taught by the now fast disappearing barterers in that article. It is chiefly characterised by the interpolation of words and sentences of " exceptionally vigorous profanity," which the native linguist utters without a sus-picion of the impropriety of the phrases. Grammar he does not affect. " That fellow woman MARY he belong a me," or " Big fellow Yam he stop Telma," is the beach-comber's pupil's way of intimating that MARY is his wife, and there are big yams in Telma. This sandal-wood English is in the Pacific what the lingua Franca is in the Le-vant, and the Chinook jargon in North-West America. 

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The London Standard, 26 December 1893, Page 5, Column 3.

The South Sea Islanders

About a tenth of them have been to Queensland, and can speak the Pacific lingua franca, or "sandal-wood English," first learned at a time when the sandal-wood traders and the " beach-combers "—those rude lotus-eaters of Polynesia and Melanesia—were about the only white men scattered over that island-dotted world of waters. Nowadays, this jargon is so widely spread, that even in the French Law Courts at Noumea natives are sworn in it. "Me talked true," so runs the oath. "My word, me no tell lie, me no gammon ; me," raising the right hand, " swear ! " Considering the source of this " beche-de-mer lingo," it is not surprising that one of its most marked charac-teristics is the frequent interpolation of much exceptionally vigorous profanity. 

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William T. Wawn, The South Sea Islanders,

https://books.google.com/books?id=bC8ZAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Tahiti photo: https://www.tripsavvy.com/a-guide-to-tahitis-best-beaches-1532890

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James C. L'Angelle            Undergraduate Research        University of Nevada, Reno

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PALEOBABU--Anglo-Indian Dialect et. al--VARIOUS PRIMARY SOURCES

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The Advocate, Friendville, Nebraska, 13 July 1877, Page 2, Column 4, William A. Connell, Editor.

The Anglo.lndian Dialect. Peopirare accustomed to laugh at the "pidgin English" of China and Cal-ifornia, which on first being heard sounds like a liquid gibberish, but the moat advanced Celestial that ever sold lacquer-ware in Canton or washed the clothes of a San Francisco belle never spoke a lingo so outrageously unintelli-gible as the Anglo-Indian dialect by means of which the world goes round in British India. The Anglo Indian language—a different thing from the Baboo English—is not only a necessary tongue for communication between natives and European, but forms the ordinary language between the English themselves. During a morning call an 

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Birmingham Daily Post, 12 January 1891, Page 4, Column 6.

     Among the works shortly to be published is a little volume by Mr. Arnold Wright, entitled ' "Baboo English as 'Tis Writ," which will illus-trate the curious and amusing aide of the Indian native press—a phase of the subject which has hitherto escaped attention. As the result of an intimate connection of several years with the Indian press Mr. Wright has got together a large number of extracts from the columns of native newspapers, such as quaint editorial announce-ments, specimens of native descriptive writing and poetry, obituary notices, quack advertise-ments, and begging letters, which, besides being entertaining as specimens of Baboo English, throi► some interesting sidelights on the native press. The work is to be published by Mr. T. Fisher Unwin, and it will be uniform with the " English as she is taught " series. 

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Daily Republican, Emporia, Kansas, 06 June 1893, Page 3, Column 4, C.V. Eskridge, Editor and Proprietor.

Wrestling With English

The Sturdy Efforts of Foreigners to Master Our Idioms and Some Results

All Californians are familktr with Chinese English. and of late have been made acquainted with the attempts of the Japanese to master the intricacies of English,,some of which, by the way, are very amusing. The Japanese. it io to be noted, are uniformly polite letter writers, the kitchen buy who desires leave of absenre or un in his wagesages approaching the subjecincrease t with a Lavishness of compliment and an extent of circumlocution which would do hon-or to a trained diplomatist. India, however, if we may judge from a number of recent publications on the subject of Baba English. as It I. com-tonly known, will have to be awarded he palm for queer English. The East Indian is ambition, and Ls a diligent student. but inmany casesthe becomes enamored. seemingly. of verbal forms and niceties. and uses words to the det-rhnent of idea, For example, a student 

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"Babu"

Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 08 December 1924, Page 6.

"Be it known to your Honour that I am a bubbie on life's ocean, at present suffering great deprivationc If your Honour doss not regard this petition with favour this bubble will buret, leaving a wife and four children." The official. who had heard from the "bubble" before, laconically re-plied "Bust!" Another Babu. ap-plying for an increase of salary on the ground of the heavy expense of maintaining his family, starts by saying: "Most Preserved Sir—I am a humble man and great family, large suns and daughters with magnificent appetites." 

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Further Reading:

Arnold Wright, Baboo English,  https://books.google.com/books?id=NlkWAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Gail M. Coelho. “Anglo-Indian English: A Nativized Variety of Indian English.” Language in Society, vol. 26, no. 4, 1997, pp. 561–89. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4168803. Accessed 14 Apr. 2023.

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lingua franca

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Pall Mall Gazette  28 August 1872  Page 2, Column 2

INDIAN AFFAIRS. 

     Catcutta, July 30. 

     Locally there has been little incident. The dispute between Mr. Campbell and the Syndicate of the University, as to the existence of such a language as Oordoo, and the propriety of teaching it, if it does exist, in Government schools, has now passed from the stage of the “ quip modest” to that of the “ reproof valiant,” and will, I understand, be referred by the University to the arbitrament of the Government of India. Let us hope that the referee may remember the beatitude, and discover some peacemaking “if” that will set the parties at accord. For though the Lieutenant- Governor points out to his adversaries that they are only an examining and not a teaching body, it is of great importance to the cause of education in India, that the University, as giving the tone to all higher instruction, should work harmoniously with the Executive, which has the direct control of the schools and colleges when such instruction is imparted. I cannot profess to know much of the subject-matter of the dispute, not being familiar with vernacular literature ; but it seems to me that in the very act of describing Hindoostanee, the language he would substitute for Oordoo, as a lingua franca, the Lieutenant-Governor bars himself from claiming for it any literary status. A lingua franca, if the term has any distinctive meaning at all, is not a synonym for a composite language, but implies a form of speech begotten by the necessity for some vehicle of converse between two or more nations or communities brought into an antagonistic, or at most but superficial contact, and therefore touching only at certain points, Such was the lingua franca properly so-called generated by the Crusades;' such is the “pigeon English” of

China; and such (and very little less barbarous than pigeon Engilsh is the Hindoostanee spoken by ninety-nine out of a hundred Englishmen. Ex vi termini, such a dialect or jargon cannot have a literature ; the very range of its vocabulary is too limited. It will be evident that so far, think, the University has the best of the argument. 

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