A supplementary study on the Chinese writings in Pidgin English Lyrics

Abstract

Chinese Pidgin Language has existed in the southern coastal areas of China since the 16th century and is a lingua franca of European languages, Mandarin and Chinese dialects, influenced by the class of users and the particular using occasion. Chinese people mainly rely on Chinese transcriptions to express and record this idiosyncratic dialect without regard for original foreign letters and spelling rules. This method, however, reserves the dialectal phonetic feature and writing system of sight words in an early period. Limited by the material recorded, relevant concerns about Chinese Pidgin Language have been at a standstill. Referring to the regional variations, studies on Yang King Pang English needs to be worthy of attention. By referring to the corresponding agreements of Chinese Pidgin Language extracted from earlier studies as well as the historical evidence, the present article makes a thorough correction of and supplement to all questioned Chinese transcriptions embedded in these Pidgin English Lyrics not well-known by the academic. The achievement, integrated with the existing transcriptions of these lyrics, would provide one complete glossary of Yang King Pang English in that period.

Keywords

Chinese transcription language contact Shanghai dialect Yang King Pang English

Introduction to Chinese Pidgin Language

Chinese Pidgin Language (CPL), the umbrella term for all regional pidgins around China, first emerged in Macao after the arrival of the Portuguese in the middle of the 16th century, according to the record by Morse (1926: 66): ‘For over a century from 1517, the only European ships to visit China were Portuguese, and their language became, to some extent, the lingua franca of the coast.’ On the basis of trade needs, Canton Portuguese (Guangdong Puyü 广东葡语) merged and has been used both officially by interpreters at the top and unofficially by peddlers at the bottom.¹

With the rise of the British East India Company, ‘from about 1715 the Chinese merchants themselves learned the curious patois known as “pidgin English”, which thereafter became the lingua franca of the China trade’, which was mentioned by Morse (1926: 67). Owing to the non-standard features compared with English, Canton English (Guangdong Yingyü 广东英语), a mix of English, Portuguese and Malay with Canton and Hokkien dialects, was considered as ‘Canton Jargon’, ‘Broken English’, ‘Slang of Canton’, and so forth. All these names, along with the fading of Canton Portuguese since then, had brought a negative understanding to the mass.

In the middle of the 19th century, influenced by the establishment of foreign settlements and trading expansion, Shanghai became one of the diversified cities, where the well-known Yang King Pang English (洋泾浜英语) or Shanghai English sprouted. Although it did not last as long as the previous two variations and was disqualified by the birth of the formal English school thereafter, it is so influential for this very term in Chinese that it has become the standard substitute in almost any text files in nowadays speaking of CPL, regardless of the exact region and epoch.

It can be concluded that these three variations of CPL vary in background, region and property, but are spatio-temporally linked and inherited historically. The feature, hence, in the system of language and writing has great value in research for reaching at least the following two realms: a hodgepodge of multi-language and multi-dialect systems, of which our understanding, even now, is still just the tip of the iceberg; and a unique symbolic system of Chinese writing transcription with a strong dialectal pronouncing accent used instead of typical Latin alphabet throughout all periods, which means the transcription itself has become a symbol on researching dialect phonetic system. The same bamboo (bambu in Portuguese) is transcribed, if pronounced in Mandarin, as ma wu 麻无, bang mu 榜母, ban pa 办琶 with the change of dialect among different stages CPL.

Owing to the method of study and a tendency towards oral teaching, there is only a small inventory of records on CPL. An English–Chinese Vocabulary Yingjiliguo Yiyü 咭唎国译语, compiled in 1748 under the edict of Emperor Qianlong, could be the earliest official bilingual glossary on Canton English and CPL. The Portuguese wordlist in Monograph of Macao (Aomen Jilüe 澳门记略), compiled three years later, is considered to be the earliest official record on Canton Portuguese. Additionally, Those Words of Foreign Language of the Red-Bristled People (Hongmao Fanhua 红毛番话 fan hwa in abbrivated), preserved in the British Library, and A Complete Collection of the Miscellaneous Words used in the Foreign Language of Macao (Aomen Fanyu Zazi Quanben 澳门番语杂字全本), preserved in Berlin State Library and printed in the late Qing Dynasty, form the limited collection.

Except for the materials on Canton Portuguese and Canton English, the record with relatively numerous Chinese transcription writings focusing on Yang King Pang English in the 19th century is still rare and needs to be exposed to the academic. Up to now, the only material revealed, on this unique system confirmed, is included in Pidgin English Lyrics (Bieqin Zhuzhici 别琴竹枝词).

Pidgin English Lyrics and the corresponding transcriptions

In the year 1863 in Shanghai, one of the port cities in the Sino-foreign communication and exchanges in the period of the self-strengthening movement (Yangwu Yundong 洋务运动) started the first official School for Foreign Language Learning (Guangfangyan Guan 广方言馆) in modern history. The mission of the school formulation was to train and cultivate the Chinese young generation to be qualified in English language and devote themselves to serving the country after three years of study. The enrolling scale was about 40 students per year at the very beginning, and a student named Yang Xun 杨勋, styled as Shaoping 少坪, was one of the first session recruits.

A well-known masterpiece by Yang Xun is Method for Learning English (Yingzi Zhinan 英字指南, zhinan in abbrivated), compiled and printed in 1879 with six volumes, which was considered to be useful material for English learning. On noticing the existence of and difference between pidgin English and standard English, he versified the words, phrases and expressions of Yang King Pang English, by imitating the style of Zhuzhici (lit. Bamboo branch lyric), into 100 blended lyrics and published them by installments in the Shanghai News (Shun Pao 申报) six years later on 3, 5, 13 and 17 March 1873, with the title Pidgin English Lyrics (Bieqin Zhuzhici 别琴竹枝词).

Pidgin English Lyrics, collecting over 400 items of Yang King Pang English and about 800 Chinese transcription writings in all, covers a great range of social life in Shanghai. The dialect shown is strongly based on the Shanghai dialect, since other dialects, Ningpo dialect and Cantonese, are clearly pointed out by the author between the lines.

生意原来别有琴，洋场通事尽知音，

不须另学英人字，的里（三）温（一）多（二）值万金。²

sang í niön lé bih yeu giun, yang dzang t’úng tsing zz yun,

peh sü ling hoh yung nien zz, tih li (three) wun (one) tú (two) dzuh van kiun.³

The above is the first lyric versified. Following the earlier format in vertical linage, traditional Chinese without punctuation and extra symbols, the lyric is revised to horizontal linage, simplified Chinese with period and comma in the present article. The writing in brackets, not in every lyric, aiming to give the Chinese equivalent, is a part of the original version by Yang Xun. San 三, for instance, stands for translation of the Chinese transcription tih lí 的里. The Chinese transcriptions, in this lyric, are bih giun 别琴, tih lí 的里, wun 温 and tú 多, representing pidgin, three, one and two with a Shanghai accent, respectively.

Most English equivalents of the Chinese transcriptions in all the 100 lyrics are pointed out in the significant work by Zhou (1996), which provides crucial support to the present article. However, a group of Chinese transcriptions among these lyrics remain questioned, in the following three categories:

Problem in the spelling of the English equivalent, as in lawer (see lyric no. 76).

Problem in failed identification of Chinese transcriptions from the line, as in 为俦四 (see lyric no. 2).

Problem in explanation of etymology, as in 袜四基 (see lyric no. 25).

Problem in selecting an improper form of foreign translation to Chinese transcription, as in 克明 (see lyric no.17).

Unsolved words clearly noted by Zhou himself, as in 纳帖牙 (see lyric no.33).

On analyzing the corresponding agreements between these lyrics, distinct differences are extracted from that of Canton Portuguese and Canton English; prominent similarities and connections, however, strongly agreed with the feature of Shanghai dialects, which could be judged as a typical and reliable material as those from a formal pidgin glossary or dictionary mentioned above.

Some main corresponding agreements on the phonetics of Yang King Pang English, according to the lyrics, could be inferred as the following:

Voiced plosives [b], [d], [ɡ] are, for the most part, replaced by thick mutes in Yang King Pang English, as in beh urh lé vú 孛而来扶 (brave). Unvoiced ending consonants [p], [t], [k], in most cases, are replaced by aspirated whereas the frequency of occurrences and the more distinct feature carried, as in veh long t’eh 勿浪脱 (front). In other positions, including consonant clusters, [p], [t], [k] in English are subjectively replaced by unvoiced or aspirated initials in terms of the degree of aspiration feature the users acquired, as in zung t’eh urh man 诚脱而蛮 (gentleman). Even though unvoiced and voiced initials are usually regarded as free variants in Shanghai dialect, there is very little confusion under this rule. Nasal initials m, n, ng are no longer used to correspond plosives, as bamboo from pong mò 榜母 in Cantonese to ban bó 办琶 in the Shanghai dialect.

Sibilant [θ] and [ð], under the typical rule of voiced/unvoiced corresponding, are still used to be replaced by coronals, as in tih lí 的里 (three) and fah tah 法达 (father) by following the pronunciation of Canton English. These two consonants, extracted from the lyric, are replaced by dental sibilants and labial fricative in sequence according to the position in the word. If the apical position is over front, a dental sibilant will be transcribed, as in tsí fú 姐夫 (thief). If the apical position is over back, a labial fricative will be transcribed, as in sau fú 嫂夫 (south). In the Shanghai dialect, only unvoiced and aspirated initials are used for the replacing; sonants are not ordinarily used in the corresponding.

Ending closed syllable in English varies quite a lot from the way transcribing in Canton English is divided into two parts before the final consonant and replaced respectively in Yang King Pang English by individual characters, as in fah t’uh 法脱 (fat), the latter of which follows agreement with the final consonant during the transcription, and tends to select one with a glottal stop in Shanghai dialect but not always, as in pau k’é 报开 (pocket).

As before with [i] and [ü], the articulation feature of syllable with initial [ɡ] and [k] in Shanghai dialect, noticed by Edkins (1868: v), situates more like a critical position between velar and palatal, closer to the latter, in an affricative oriented place. In other words, these combinations are more sounds like chi or ch’i. The common use of the same or relevant transcription characters belongs to the same initial division in Yang King Pang English, and therefore mainly corresponds to the plosives [ɡ]/[k] and sibilants [ʤ]/[ʧ] in English at the same time, as in k’i bá 鸡排 (keeper) and k’i fú 气夫 (chief).

The transcription of letters l and r in English has a different appearance owing to period and position. The postalveolar [ɹ], not positioned as the initial consonant, is replaced by transcription with l in the Shanghai dialect, as in veh lih 佛力 (very) overlaps with p’eh lih sz 泼力司 (police). The ending letter r, as in í 伊 (year), k’au p’á 考派 (copper) is habitually neglected. Sometimes, l and r are both transcribed into a peculiar Chinese sound rh, as in mih urh k’uh 密而克 (milk) and fah urh 法而 (fur).

These principles, extracted from Pidgin English Lyrics in our previous work (Nie, 2018), bring an overall understanding of the Chinese character used and will help in finding those problematic correspondings in Zhou’s work.

Supplement on Chinese transcriptions in Pidgin English Lyrics

In the previous work done by Zhou, he tried to find out and comment on all English equivalents word by word. Some of these assumptions, however, do not coincide with the corresponding agreements extracted from the massive comparison or the meaning of the lyrics, which, in order to get a better understand of Yang King Pang English, need to be discussed and modified.

The discussion on these questioned words, in the following, will be given in sequence to the order of Pidgin English Lyrics. The English translation, here, is a newly added extra work conducted by the author, in order to give a more direct and explicit interpretation of the lyric mentioned. The italics highlight the foreign equivalents corresponding to the underlined Chinese characters, which are partially noted by Zhou in his previous paper. For those questioned parts, the present article will explain by item.

Lyric no. 2.

算帐先呼押克康，对而（银两）大辣（洋钱）即银洋，

辛工（宁人呼为身工）概说为俦四（无薪水束修之别），是否何人虾勃郎。

To make count first say account,

Tael (Chinese silver) and dollar (foreign cash) are money sound,

These are wages workmen (sing kong in Ningpo dialect) talk around (emolument and salary),

And who belong please come respond.

wé dzeu sz 为俦四. In Zhou’s work, 俦四, belonging to the third line, is a transcription of English word jobs [dʒɒbz]. According to the corresponding agreements in CPL since the 18th century, however, if the sound [dʒɒb] is transcribed into one character, an entering tone (ru sheng 入声) needs to be selected, as a closed syllable, concerning those dialects along the south-west coast of China. While dzeu 俦 is not an entering tone sound.

Judging from the meaning, the cohesion between the second and third lines tells us that whatever the currency is, they all have one general name used by workers, and this term does not seem to be jobs. In fact, the character wé 为 could be confirmed, if taking as a regular verb for to do according to its Chinese meaning, is overlapped with ké söh 概说 (general speaking) in the same line. This kind of redundancy does not accord to the conciseness and clearness of the composing idea of the lyric. Therefore, 为 should no longer be considered as a verb, but a transcription together with 俦四, and separating the sentence into a 2-2-3 structure. In the Shanghai dialect, the sound wé dzeu sz, with a meaning related to money, can be transcribed from English wages [weidʒiz].

Lyric no. 5.

衣裳楚楚语陪陪，考姆陪陪歇歇来，

多少洋行康八杜（当手也，粤人呼为买办），片言茹吐费疑猜。

A neat dressed man says hi by’mby,⁴

Stop little rest and come by’mby,

Factory compradore (i.e., steward, mái pán in Cantonese) standing by,

The gentle piece word but sounds no rhyme.

k’ong pah du 康八杜. This combination in the third line is misspelled combrador in Zhou’s work. It originated from comprar (English: to buy) in Portuguese and transferred from compradore. The same word is recorded by Morrison (1876: 86), also transcribed kông bah do 岡勃佗 in Ningpo dialect.

Lyric no. 8.

货样东家不必分，袜丝带异义同文，

店船夷皂羊汤样，少破能该六字云。

Master needless parts cargo muster,

since sock and silk sounds no differ,

Shop ship soap sheep soup sample word,

all sounds same sau p’ú for the speaker.

sau p’ú 少破. The word soap in the third line is misspelled shoap in Zhou’s comment.

Lyric no. 9.

梁上偷儿曰姐夫，辣里龙号也无殊

, 洋行管事司多画，谷克先生做大厨。

Burglar on the beam is same to a thief,

Another name is la-li-lung with kerchief,

Shop steward is staff in the name,

Mr. cook will be the chef of chief.

lah lí lúng 辣里龙. In Zhou’s work, these three characters in the second line clearly correspond to thief, but he noted as well that the etymology is uncertain. According to Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine (Wilson, 1863: 520), this word is just a Chinesified saying, ‘doubtless their form of the Portuguese word ladrone’, which is derived from ladrão.’ It can be inferred from the initial consonant [l] in 里 and [d] in ladrone that the correspondence between them never happened in the Shanghai and Ning-po dialects. Since the Ladrone Islands (Lao-væn Sæn 老万山) in the 19th century, noted by Morrison (1876: 550), does not follow this principle of phonetic corresponding. In Monograph of Macao Aomen Jilüe 澳门记略, compiled in 1751, the glossary records the word ladrão as lat da ling 喇打令, where 打 very much corresponds to [d], while dentro in the same glossary is transcribed to lín tu lò 连度卢. Taking another look at other materials in Cantonese, examples like lo fu 口攞父 (dove), lat 臘 (dog) and pi té 口躄嗲 (play), and so forth, though not a lot of such correspondings, it exists in the material.⁵

This kind of fusion between initial [l] and [d], stated by Douglas (1873: xii), apparently occurs in Hokkien dialect as well, especially in Amoy (Xiamen 厦门), Chang-chew (Zhangzhou 漳州) and Chin-chew (Quanzhou 泉州) areas, for: …1 is often pronounced in a very thick indistinct manner, approaching to the sound of d, so much so that as the language of Amoy has no proper d, the Amoy people usually employ a syllable beginning with l when trying to imitate a foreign word beginning with d.The way of corresponding in Canton, however, lacking regularity within the dialect, not the classical variants of one single consonant, seems more agree to a temporary phonetic confusion rather than a systematic phonemic replacement when pronouncing a foreign sound.

Lyric no. 15.

我同汝去哀郎由，绰泼超超速速谋，

不惧何人诺废害，办琶悄悄竹杠抽。

I go with you along you,

Chop chop-chop and fai-tee move,⁶

Any frighten no fear all,

Bamboo chow chow is extort.

t’sah p’eh 绰泼. According to Zhou’s note, these two characters in the second line are transcribed from cop, since in Chinese there is an initial shift between consonant k and ch, through which the character t’sah 绰 is pronounced k’ú 科. However, on the basis of the Shanghai dialect in the 19th century, these two characters are not homonyms, and the latter one does not correspond to the cluster [kɒ] in cop. Meanwhile, considering the vocabulary of CPL historically, the consonant [k] in English or Portuguese is merely transcribed so.

From the phonetic agreements and lyric meaning, one of the possible origins might be chop [tʃɒp], representing ‘号 or 字号. A mark, number, or brand’, as in Giles’s work (1886: 42–43), which is ‘[s]aid to be derived from the Cantonese pronunciation of 剳 to puncture’. In fan hua, the word dan 单 in folio 38, showing the existence of this word, is translated into chop/list/bill and the transcription is 剳/咧时/卑兀 as well. In the Shanghai dialect, as a matter of fact, t’sah 剳 is a homonym to the transcription 绰, both of which are the compound sounds of ch’uh ok 乞恶 representing chop in Zhinan by Yang Xun himself.

meu 谋. If someone goes for stamping on something, in a regular process, the next action is to leave quickly rather than to stay and make a hasty plan, the latter of which comes from the literal meaning of 谋. Therefore, this character could be another transcription representing to go. A close correspondence might be move [muːv]. The final consonant is not transcribed separately, for the coincidence feature with the long vowel in the word.

Lyric no. 17.

叱犬从来用克明，雪堂（坐也）许许（英人呼和犬声）效禽呜，

弹描回六谷为去，吓得乡人不敢行。

Naughty dog makes you yell coming,

Sit down hiss-hiss like bird humming,

You dog damn wailo go and hooting,

People so scared dare no moving.

k’uh ming 克明. This combination in the first line is said to be transcribed from calm. However, the final of 明 does not correspond to the single consonant [m] in calm. Once taking a look at lyric no. 47, it occurs in the sentence kau kiau k’uh ming sung tsun ni 高叫克明声震耳 (lit. loud shout coming sound stun ears) as well, then it can be confirmed as the same situation with the transcription here as coming [ˈkʌmɪŋ].

wé lóh 回六. These two characters in the third line are considered to come from fellow in Zhou’s work. On judging the corresponding agreements in Shanghai English, [f] in the foreign language is always transcribed into character with the same consonant, as fah au 法下 (fire), fú urh 夫而 (full), fan 翻 (fan), etc. According to the line, 回六 means to go, which is equivalent to wailo in CPL. Originally from Cantonese hü lo 去咯 (be off) according to Giles (1886: 268), wailo, as Leland (1876: 32) recorded, can be used in pidgin sentences like ‘He piggies wailo afta he’, representing ‘his pigs go after him’.

Lyric no. 20.

法司为一有为先，好袜处伊问几年，

讨泼碎为楼顶上，混徒碎乃是窗前。

First is honor I after you,

Ask the lofty how much year,

Come to top side go upstairs,

Window side has breeze and air.

yeu 有. This character in the first line is not pointed out in the previous work. The two wé 为 appearing in the very sentence indicates the structural balance beneath, in which fah sz 法司 and yeu 有 should also be the subject, a noun in English in detail. Since this whole lyric is about renting or purchasing an estate, the client is always welcomed by ‘you first’ at the beginning.

í 伊. This character in the second line is noted without the word year in Zhou’s work. As long as the latter part of the sentence is about asking the time, the word year is highly possible to be added after ‘how much’ for representing both nien 年 (year) and the transcription 伊. Besides, it has been concluded from Shanghai English in Nie (2018) that the ending r is habitually neglected as a regional variation feature.

Lyric no. 21.

譬说如何宿怕司，一丝(是)虾类(唯)总称知，

休忘城外奥虽雪，两个成双达勃儿。

For example supposey,

Yes all right I do agree,

Outside city must savvy,⁷

Two in row a double will be.

sók p’ó sz 宿怕司. This combination in the first line is considered to come from so pass in Zhou’s work. Although the two forms obey the corresponding agreements, it is not a set phrase, nor equivalent to the meaning of p’i söh 譬说 (for example) and zû hú 如何 (how about). In CPL, a word related is suppose [səˈpəuz], that is, supposey in Leland’s work (1876: 133), which is word of very general application meaning if or admit.

Lyric no. 22.

王之琶海要船钱，配由陪陪隔两天，

你要几何好袜处，的里到顺是三千。

Wantchee buy this boat by bay,

Pay you bymby in two day,

How much you want by the way,

Te-le thousand take away.

tih lí 的里. This combination in the last line originated from the standard form three, spelling tlee in another way, which is affected by southern Chinese dialects. However, it is misspelled tree in Zhou’s work, which is obviously far apart from a numeral.

Lyric no. 25.

信纸常作拿脱卑，书完考必（抄也，水印也）唤西厮。

须知紧要公司信，切勿轻言袜四基(不妨)。

To write a chit needs note-paper, seals after copy must on the letter,

As company take it as real matter, you no can say maskee forever.

sí sz 西厮. For the second line, the previous note neglects these two characters, which could not be a western menial literally. As an object, the same as the structure of the former part of the line, sí sz 西厮 should also be a transcription indicating the next action followed. The seals [siːlz], thus, seems to be the answer, since as noticed by Giles (1886: 209–210), ‘all dispatches, title-deeds, and such public documents, must bear a seal, or they are not accepted as authentic’.

mah sz kí 袜四基. Also as Ma-sze-ki, Mashkee or Maskee, is a pidgin term for ‘all right, never mind, no matter, however, but, etc.,’ which is cited by Leland (1876: 33) . The etymology of maskee remains uncertain for academic because of its perplexing meaning and lacking of connection between Chinese and foreign language. According to Zhou’s work, this word is regarded as a derivation of mas que (English: but that) from Portuguese. Although the acoustic acceptance to 袜四基 in Shanghai dialect is close to the sound mas que, the meanings seem far apart from each other, especially since the Portuguese phrase can only represent the transitional part but not a complete reply form. It could be inferred that the irrelevant items of maskee might indicate a totally different route of its origin. This word, which first spread in Canton English, is not in a typical English Spelling. Same as wailo mentioned above, it might not come a foreign language. According to the Cantonese pronunciation and meaning, a commonly used phrase mò shi k’oi 冇事嘅/唔使嘅 (never mind) sounds closer both phonetically and semantically, which possibly illustrates the etymology of such use.

Ma-sze-ki – that is, Mashkee or Maskee – it is all good. This form of spelling and definition, as given in the Chinese ‘Vocabulary of Words in Use Among the Red-Bristled People’, indicates the original pronunciation and meaning of this perplexing word.

Lyric no. 28.

纸张炮弹与关门，短字呼号一例论，

五者同声名若脱，何妨一口囫囵吞。

Sheet shot and door shut,

Still short and people shout,

All sound zák t’eh if sense cut,

And no more take as a hard nut.

zák t’eh 若脱. This combination in the first line is misspelled shatter in Zhou’s comment, which is more likely to be sheet. According to the meaning, the verb shatter (to pieces) has no connection in meaning to the noun paper (纸张); although it looks like it, separately, the first syllable of shatter [ˈʃætər] has a closer agreement to zák 若 than sheet [ʃiːt] phonetically. Compared with lyric no. 8, however, shop, ship, soap, sheep, soup and sample are all transcribed into sau 少, which indicates that the vowel [i]/[i:] in English could both correspond to au in Shanghai English. Besides, in Shanghai dialect, the final consonant in an entering tone (入声) had changed to a glottal plosive, which could hardly be recognized in a flow of speech. It is therefore not without justification to transcribe sheet instead in this lyric, since the former does represent a piece of paper.

Lyric no. 33.

哀可司巴（出口）及印巴（进口）, 关单出进口无差，

本行专做报关事，好比当官纳帖牙。

Cargo export and good import,

No differ in the bill report,

Declare goods and all that sort,

Like the license fee paid to court.

nah t’ih ngá 纳帖牙. This combination in the last line is regarded as a transcription uncertain in Zhou’s work. Taking an overview of all the lyrics, there is a line in lyric no. 24, t’sia dé ming tsau mau lóh tú 且待明朝毛六都 (lit. just wait bright morning tomorrow), in which the transcription is the converted form of tú mau lóh 都毛六 (tomorrow) only to rhyme the same sound in that lyric. For this reason, t’ih ngá 帖牙could also be the same using because of the rhyme in this lyric. The original order 牙帖 is a permit licensed by the local government in the Ming and Qing dynasties. 纳牙帖, therefore, not as a transcription, represents ‘pay the tax of license’, which is a comparison with the goods declaration in the former part.

Lyric no. 40.

抽风牵线曰奔街，佛力耗时要拔排，

因热剃须偏傅粉，刀头到处白涎皆。

Money deducting and matchmaking named banker,

A very hot weather you need a barber,

Shaving beard after face powder,

And dancing knife with white foam scatter.

pun ká 奔街. As noted by Zhou, this combination in the first line should be a transcription, but the English corresponding is not clear. It can be confirmed that pun ká 奔街 is the general term for the first two words, in which t’seu fúng 抽风 and kien sien 牵线 represent ‘make a small gift expecting a great return’ and ‘match two parts by pulling strings with interests’ respectively. According to the phonetic corresponding agreements, voiced and voiceless plosive consonants in English are always transcribed into an unaspirated plosive in Shanghai English. It is possible to state, therefore, that this transcription should stand for banker [ˈbæŋkə], a person dealing with money.

Lyric no. 44.

康脱腊叨是作头，工人司务使如牛，

自从押克里门脱（写承揽），盟纳（银子）完工方敢收。

Contractor and chief-head are same in meaning,

Laborer and workman are suffered for living,

Once an agreement works after signing,

Money could only paid at the ending.

ah k’uh li mun t’eh 押克里门脱. This combination in the third line is pointed out by Zhou, however the English corresponding is uncertain. Owing to the explanation in brackets ‘write contract’ of this transcription, it is supposed to be a synonym, which should be agreement [əˈɡriːmənt].

Lyric. no. 45.

三斑船本号三斑，浦岸团团泊似环，

高叫克明声震耳，梅琶谷特克林蛮（言我船好而洁）。

Pinnace on the river called sampan,

Mooring the bank like opened fan,

Stunned by a loud coming from boatman,

My boat good clean man.

k’uh ming 克明. These two characters in the third line are neglected in Zhou’s work, exactly the same as lyric no. 17, which should be transcribed from coming [ˈkʌmɪŋ].

Lyric no. 47.

叫货名为奥克兴，人头仰望密层层，

价钱喊到无添处，方把尊名账上登。

Goods selling is an auction,

Crowed are paying attention,

Price bidding till the last action,

And the name will on the registration.

au k’uh hiung 奥克兴. This word in the first line is misspelled action in Zhou’s work. According to the meaning, the transcription au k’uh hiung 奥克兴 is the same as ‘goods selling’, and the meaning of this lyric is not simply a sale action but narrates the scene of an auction. Phonetically, au 奥 in Shanghai dialect has a closer agreement to [ɔː] in auction [ˈɔːkʃn] than [æ] in action [ˈækʃn].

Lyric no. 49.

气夫海特小工头，苦力野鸡司帝伦，

撑惯驳船做水腊，夜间茶会更轻裘。

Chief head is small contractor in the meaning,

Coolie and callet do stealing,

It can be a sailor after boat poling,

And all join a well-dressed night gathering.

sûe lah 水腊. This transcription in the third line is not noticed in Zhou’s work. It could be inferred from the connotation, sûe lah 水腊, not mean ‘the plant privet’ semantically, is a person poles a boat, who, together with the other three occupations, always join a gathering. The transcription corresponds to the standard form sailor [ˈseɪlə], while sailee or séli in pidginized spelling by Leland (1876: 33).

Lyric no. 50.

年终别席（有事）不胜忙，且喜东家考姆桑（年底双工，俗呼如此），

悄悄哑兵吃冷笼，福林碎（租界）有女跑堂。

Year end is the busy time in trade,

So glad the master’s comissão is paid,

Chow-chow opium will make a jail stayed,

And foreign settlement has attendants in braid.

k’au m song 考姆桑. This word is pointed out as a transcription in the previous work, but the foreign corresponding word, representing double payment noted aside, is unknown. According to the corresponding agreements in Shanghai English, these three characters of k’au m song 考姆桑 normally represent the sounds [kʌ]/[kɒ], [m] and [sɒŋ], respectively, which should be regarded as the kernel components for its foreign corresponding. To take a comparison with k’ong mih sung yün zz zien yúng 康密升云是用钱 (lit. commission said be hire money) in lyric no. 71, what the first two characters represent in k’ong mih sung 康密升 (commission) is somehow a different spelling from 考姆, since the final ending of 考 has nothing to do with a nasal sound. This way of pronouncing 考姆桑, owing to the evolution routine of CPL, might strongly reflect a Portuguese feature, in which ‘commission’ equivalents to comissão [komiˈsãw].

Lyric no. 52.

纳粟损来蛮特鳞，狐裘补服且章身，

新年拜客婚丧外，仍是平常生意人。

From the northern comes the officer mandarin,

The rank denoted by fur robe and square satin,

Besides wears in ceremony and visit flin,⁸

Who like a common merchant in daily seen.

man duh ling 蛮特鳞. This combination in the first line, instead of mandarin, is misspelled mandanin in Zhou’s work, while the last initial consonant of syllable does not correspond to that of ling 鳞 on the basis of Shanghai dialect.

nah sóh sun 纳粟损. his combination is not pointed out in Zhou’s work. The literal meaning ‘collect grains diminish’ seems semantically collapsed to mandarin. According to the latter three lines, this mandarin officer is not from the local area and he is dressed in cold-proof clothing. English phrase north (纳粟) and side (损) therefore, could be the corresponding. However, in the system of Chinese transcription in Pidgin English Lyrics, the English word side has several transcriptions as sah (煞), sé (碎) and sûe (虽), none of which ends with a nasal consonant as in sun (损). Considering this difference, a synonym Northern [ˈnɔ:ðən], has more possibility of corresponding to the Chinese transcription and links the meaning between the lines as well.

Lyric no. 62.

兑四克为写字台，吉无出脱送书来，

杀阴薄克签名字，立待还云唵煞回。

Desk is a writing-table to set,

Give chit arrived the letter packet,

On sign book put the name alphabet,

Au-sai wait and stand in etiquette.

ts’eh t’eh 出脱. This combination in the second line is noted as a transcription for letter [ˈletə], and the character ts’eh 出 is said to be a wrongly written form instead of lé 来. Although the corresponding lé t’eh 来脱 seems acceptable both in sound and meaning, there is still a lack of evidence that simply attributes it to an error in typesetting of the newspaper. Referring to the Chinese Pidgin vocabulary fan hua, the term hin sun 闲信, to present letter, can also be news [njuːz] or chit [tʃɪt], the latter of which is derived from chitti in Hindi. This word, according to Giles (1886: 41), is ‘specially used of letters of recommendation given to servants. Used in China for all kinds of letters, notes, pencil scraps, IOU’s, etc., etc.’, which just corresponds to the original transcription 出脱, as in the situation recorded by Leland (1876: 34): ‘He wantchee catch one chit flom hom, but findee no chit t’here’.⁹

ön sah wé 唵煞回. This phrase in the last line is said to be and so wait (I’m so wait) in Zhou’s work. Still, the reasonable phonetic corresponding has both to be grammatically acceptable and to cohere with the context. This lyric is on the situation of delivery. A person comes to a desk to send books. After leaving the signature, he just waits for a further reply. Here, the last line is more like an order of instruction than a record of conversation. Therefore, a better correspondence could be au-sai wait, a pidgin form of out-side wait, which illustrates the place where the person lih dé 立待 (stand to wait).

Lyric no. 65.

勃着常开牛肉庄，耕牛宰作菜牛尝，

从前贪买瘟牛肉，屡次谷阴巡捕房。

A Bazaar has butcher’s shop to take notice,

Farm cattle are sliced as beef cattle in choice,

Taking the infected flesh for avarice,

Several times caught and go in police.

póh záh 勃着. This transcription in the first line is misspelled bazar in Zhou’s work. Bazar used to be a popular spelling form; however, since the 19th century, it has been replaced by bazaar to some extent, and the former one is considered a spelling mistake.

Lyric no. 70.

算盘别号康丁傍，薄克鸡排是账房，

大灶牵来听谷脱，先生账上十条羊。

Counting board is the abacus to count,

Book keeper is a man taking charge in account,

When kitchen comes ten goat in amount,

The number will be noted on the book for no miscount.

k’ong ting bong 康丁傍. This word in the first line is misspelled counting band in Zhou’s work. It could be inferred from the corresponding that, in Shanghai English, there is normally not a strict agreement as with those in Canton English, since the final ending in [bɔːd] and [bænd] are transcribed into an entering tone mút 口抹 or pút 砵 recorded in Zoutei ka Ei Tsugo (1860) and fan hua.

Lyric no. 76.

老下尊称大状师，替人查例释人悲，

特劳专做衙门事，配的升（禀帖）成要笔资。

The honorable saying for lawyer is attorney,

Who helps the plaintiff and states the injury,

A trial is the court an accusation to carry,

Once petition signed you have to give him money.

lau au 老下. This transcription in the first line, corresponding to lawyer, is misspelled lawer in Zhou’s work.

tuh lau 特劳. In Zhou’s work, he noted this combination in the third line could be a transcription, but not knowing the exact corresponding. All underlined transcriptions, according to the meaning of the lyric, are related to a lawsuit. It can also be figured out that the explanation of the transcription is placed at the latter part of each line. This combination, whereupon, is another saying of court or tribunal (ngá mun 衙门). From the pronunciation in Shanghai dialect, when 特 is in the first syllable of a combination, noted by Edkins (1868: 46), it is pronounced tuh instead of duh. Owing to the transcription agreements of Shanghai English abstracted from these lyrics, mainly the relation between consonants and initials, the English word that corresponds to the sound tuh lau should be trial [ˈtraɪəl].

Lyric no. 83.

而里康门乃荐书，务祈鼎力费吹嘘，

保人果肯司邱下，须得纹银十万余。

Recommend is a letter for someone’s future,

Entrusting to boast of his deeds be sure,

If the guarantor insures to take secure,

It will cost hundred thousand silver by measure.

sz k’ü au 司邱下. This combination is noted as an unknown transcription in the previous work. According to the meaning, sz k’ü au 司邱下 is an action the guarantor (pau niun 保人) does to insure, which indicates the corresponding should be secure [sɪˈkjʊə].

Lyric no. 86.

堂中男女跪团团，知是先生发闻餮（天主教谓领圣体，耶稣教谓吃圣餐，大同小异），

试看密升内二力，酒红饼白炼金丹。

A church crowds with people bowing down upon the knee and head,

It is the divine holding the Maundy to be said (Communion for Catholic and Protestant),

Taking a glance at the missionary ahead,

Prays the sacraments with red wine and white bread.

men t’ih 闻餮. These two characters in the second line are not noted in Zhou’s work. It is judged to be a transcription for two reasons. According to the structure, men t’ih 闻餮 (lit. smell greedy) is the object of fah 发 (to distribute), which has nothing to do with the literal meaning. As a way of emphasizing, also, the attached explanation tells what in front should be a transcription but not a regular Chinese expression. It could, then, be confirmed to represent a synonym of communion. This term, following the liturgy, is highly possible to be Maundy [ˈmɔːndi], a day celebrated with a general communion of those in a church. The transcription might indicate a Chinesified use in the realm of lexicon development.

Lyric no. 87.

明朝弥撒要虔诚，信男善女一路行，

知否入门大礼节，胸前十字写纵横。

Prayed with reverence for Missa tomorrow,

Devout men and women coming in the same row,

What manner to enter a portal do you know?

A crucifix in front of breast be crossed hallow.

mi sah 弥撒. This transcription in the first line, spelled Mass in English, is derived from the Latin word Missa, and corresponds to the Chinese transcription mi sah 弥撒, which is misspelled as messer in Zhou’s work.

Lyric no. 88.

头衔哀二与披哑（三字母音），专送文书不致差，

六刻怕思奥勿四（工部书信馆），替人传信到人家。

Title LPO the word piece,

Delivers document on a promise,

The Local Post Office (Shu-sun-koon of Works),

Sends letters at people’s service.

é urh p’i ó 哀二披哑. This combination is judged as I. P. O in the previous note while the corresponding of urh 二 in pronouncing of letter L [el] is neglected.

lóh k’uh p’ó sz au veh sz 六刻怕思奥勿四. The first two characters in this phrase are questioned as look [lʊk] in Zhou’s work. According to the connotation, this phrase is the English from shu-sun-koon of Works (工部书信馆) and the abbreviation is LPO in the first line. There is not a question on the part of post office; the word look, however, can hardly make a connection with the whole meaning, despite the similarity in the corresponding agreement. In fact, founded in the year 1863, the proper name of this official place in Shanghai that the Chinese transcription stands for, is the Local Post Office.

Lyric no. 89.

试看蓝破火油灯，焦炭绰歌哀肆冰，

更好不如麻倍带，弗伦到底是良朋。

Lamp kerosene you look-see,¹⁰

Carbon charcoal ice freeze,

More-better in greater degree,

Friend just like you and me.

t’sah kú 绰歌. This word in the second line corresponds to coke [kəʊk] in the previous work, for the same reason as t’sah p’eh 绰泼 (cop) in lyric no. 15, which is presumed to result from a velarized consonant shift. However, as mentioned above, there is a clear distinction between these two initial consonants in the Shanghai dialect, which individually correspond to [ɡ/k] and [tʃ]. Besides, if 绰 is pronounced ch’éuk, as shown in Cantonese, it should follow the corresponding agreements in Canton English. Taking a glance at those transcriptions in the same period of fan hua, cock (kok 各), duck (tăk 得) and snake (sz’ nik 士溺) all select the one with an entering tone, which by analogy, kú 歌 in this very transcription, seems to be a redundancy in the sound of coke. Hence, the revised word charcoal [ˈtʃɑːkəʊl], in the sense of a phonetic feature, corresponds to the transcription more adapted.

Lyric no. 92.

报关另纳报开钱，都道如今生意穿，

愿给瓜端派逊脱（照估价二厘半），皆因怕出会防捐。

Apply to the customs need pocket money to roll,

All say that business now is not in good control,

Ready to take quarter percent from the whole (two cash and a half of the appraise),

As dread of Mixed-defense Fee to withdrawal.

pau k’é 报开. This combination in the first line is noted as book [bʊk] in Zhou’s work, which somehow is logically unacceptable to take ‘book’ money for what is needed to pay the custom. According to the corresponding agreements, meanwhile, consonant [b] in English always corresponds to the voiced [b] in Shanghai dialect, as barber [ˈbɑːbə] to bah bá 拔排, bamboo [ˌbæmˈbuː] to ban bó 办琶, but not as the initial in pau 报. The word pocket [ˈpɒkɪt] here, along with ‘money’, represents ‘a spending on incidental expenses’.

Lyric no. 93.

信息能将电气传，霎时万里寄华笺，

行名推累葛蓝姆，铁线会从海底穿。

A message can be sent by electricity,

Transmitting the Chinese letter immediate to a far city,

Telegram is the name of this facility,

The wire goes through the seabed in the vicinity.

t’é lé köh lan m 推累葛蓝姆. This transcription in the third line should be telegram, but is misspelled telegramm in Zhou’s work.

Conclusion

The CPL, prejudiced by social values, user class and its Chinesified features, has been regarded as an worthless research topic in language by the academic. The relevant research, therefore, has been rejected and discarded, which has limited the pace of understanding to such hybrid in an objective aspect. It is undeniable that CPL, as an idiosyncratic dialect merged in China since the 16th century, and being similar to any other dialects in China, which has a stationary group of users and a relatively stabilized language system, might be more stable in a certain sense. The present article, from a perspective of traditional Chinese transcription study, targeted the writing form in Yang King Pang English shown in Pidgin English Lyrics in the 19th century, has tried to access and validate the hypothesis in this very field.

Chinese transcription, a passive choice being used in the translation of Buddhist sutra since the Han dynasty, has been taken as the only form to record the sound in another language. To some extent, research on Chinese transcriptions is mainly about discovering the phonetic system of a certain target language in a specific period of history, which could help in understanding the development and evolution of such a language. The principle of phonetic and corresponding agreements, concluded from a massive transcriptions with their equivalent, however, needs to be modified and validated with the discovering of new material. In this regard, the present article, through the instrumentality of the corresponding agreements on Shanghai dialect and Yang King Pang English reached in advance, validates the correctness and credibility of the principles by researching the dubious transcriptions in Pidgin English Lyrics. This work could benefit and supplement the study of Shanghai dialect, despite the materials complied with Romanization system instead of Chinese Transcriptions created by foreign missionaries in China, which are regarded as the most standard and proper record of the Chinese language. One of the results reached, in Shanghai dialect, is the distinction between the actual pronunciation of syllable k’i or ch’i might not as separate and grouped, but a median sound, as that mentioned by Edkins. Since in k’i bá 鸡排 (keeper) and k’i fú 气夫 (chief), it, both pronounced by a Shanghai native, does represent two different sounds in English.

It is observable that the Chinese language, both Mandarin and dialect included, could not spelled in syllabic from the Chinese writing system than any foreign language with alphabetic writing. However, it may not influence the communication within a certain community, as the selection and judgement of Chinese transcription somehow reflects the regional uniqueness of that dialect. The study of Pidgin English Lyrics revealed some transcription tendency lying in the corresponding, as using disyllabic Chinese transcriptions, not monosyllabic transcription with an entering tone in Canton English, for a closed syllable in English. Also, the selected character as au下 distinctly tells the dialectal origin rather than the same character pronounced ha in Cantonese or hia in Mandarin. These rules could provide a standardization to seek out the original dialect and region of any foreign expression first introduced into Chinese, from the transcription represented.

The vocabulary of CPL, for its small inventory of words and expressions, including Pidgin English Lyrics discussed in the present article, can hardly take prominence over any pocket bilingual dictionary. We should bear in mind, however, that a dictionary has to record many items, which in any given language usually run into hundreds of thousands, telling people what words there are in a language. In pidgin language, limited items, considered as condensed subjects, are most frequently used in all walks of life, from which could also tell the social appearance and culture exchange under the contact of languages.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Daxin Nie

Notes

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