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晚清洋泾浜英语及其影响史

The Effected History of Chinese Pidgin English in Late Qing

【作者】 周毅

【导师】 陈廷湘;

【作者基本信息】 四川大学 , 专门史, 2005, 博士

【副题名】以1840年前后至1919年的澳门、广州、上海口岸为中心

【摘要】 无论作为早期“通事”所掌握的主要外国语还是清廷与西方列强进行外交、文化、教育和贸易交流的重要工具,英语在近代中国的正式传入和兴起都始于鸦片战争前后,其影响在1840年前后至1919年间表现得特别突出。因为这个时期是中国人与西方人真正有意识相互接触、相互交流的时期,也是近代国人从被迫睁眼看世界到主动向西方和日本讨教的时期。鉴于当时英国是列强中之列强,加之英美贸易占据清代中国对外贸易的主导地位,英语很自然就成了一种国际通用语(lingua franca)。然而,要探究近代中国英语的历史,必须首先搞清中国洋泾浜葡语和洋泾浜英语的历史。 洋泾浜语是为了和其他某个集团进行交际而特意创造的语言变体,几乎都是外来者与当地底层民众为了生活与做生意的需要而相互接触中自发产生的,不存在屈折形态,学起来比较简单。由于交流的最主要需求出自贸易,所以洋泾浜语多半是贸易语言。从十六世纪欧洲新航线开通以来,中西接触明显增多。首先从海路来到中国(广州)的西方人是葡萄牙人,葡语作为一门异族语言被葡萄牙商人、传教士和外交官带到中国,立即就与中国人的本族语言——汉语发生碰撞和交融。这样,葡语便与粤语产生某种混合,不久演变成在澳门地区的中国人与葡萄牙人之间的通用语言,即“洋泾浜葡语”(Pidgin Portuguēs)或“广东葡语”(Cantāo Portuguēs)。作为近代中国最早的洋泾浜语,

【Abstract】 Both as a major foreign language of Chinese Tongshi (interpreter/translator or linguist) and as an important means by which the Qing court held diplomatic, cultural, educational and trade exchanges with Western powers, English began to be formally transmitted into China around the Opium War period, and its effect turned to be exceptionally enormous during 1840-1919. This is the period when Chinese intentionally wanted to communicate with and contact Westerners and when Chinese were forced to open their eyes towards the outside world and later learn on their own initiative from Westerners and Japanese. Because Britain of that time was the biggest power and the Anglo-American trade dominated the Sino-foreign trade of the Late Qing period, the English language, naturally, became a lingua franca. However, to explore the historical origin of English in Modern China, it is necessary to firstly trace the history of Chinese Pidgin Portugues and Chinese Pidgin English.The inflexionless, easy-to-learn pidgin language is a sort of linguistic variation purposefully created for the communications between one group and the other, almost all from the bottom of society, usually for the sake of living and mutual trading. Therefore, a pidgin language is mostly a trade language. From the 16th century on, when Europe opened its new sea route, there were more and more contacts between China and the West. Portuguese merchants, missionaries and diplomats were the first group of Westerners who came to China (Canton) by the sea route, together with the Portuguese language. Then, Portuguese blended with Chinese, esp. with the Cantonese dialect, which soon resulted in a lingua franca called "Pidgin Portugue|-s" or "Canta|-oPortugues" between Portuguese people and local Chinese. As the earlieast pidgin language in the modern times of China, "Cantao Portugues" made its debut after 1557 during the late Ming Dynasty when the Portuguese occupied Macao and became popular in the whole port of Canton after the opening of Canton in the early Qing Dynasty till the early years of the reign of Qing’s Emperor Qianlong (1736-1795). It greatly influenced and was later replaced by "Canton English". From the year 1635 when the first British ship reached Macao to the year 1836 when Charles Elliot arrived there to succeed as the commercial counselor of Canton and further to the year 1838 when Lin Zexu, the governor-general of Hu-Canton, went to Canton to ban the opium, Britain had been increasing its normal trade in Macao and Lingdingyang while keeping its opium-smuggling and Chinese-labour-trafficking businesses going up there. In order to monopolize the market and interests in China, British merchants, as latecomers, surpassed Portuguese and Dutch merchants by squeezing them out in every possible way. At the zenith of the British colonialist expansion in China, "Canton English", very much like "Cantao Portugues", emerged spontaneously and started to spread quickly.Before the Opium War, English was transmitted into China principally by way of the Canton-Fujian areas for the practical purpose of two-way oral communications in Sino-foreign business transactions. Thereby, after it evolved into a linguistic variation, "Canton English" acquired some new linguistic features: 1. Its Chinese-English bilingual form was marked by phonetic symbols in the form of Chinese characters. 2. Its word order was based on Chinese grammar. 3. Its sentences were composed of poorly-organized words. 4. Its accent was influenced by the Cantonese dialect. It first began to prevail in the region of South China, centering around the "foreign factories" and "hongs" in Macao, Hong Kong and Canton, and after the opening of five port cities started to move to the region of East China, centering around the banks of the Western Pidgin River in Shanghai, hence a fresh name "Pigeon English". In terms of linguistic application as well as linguistic nature, there isn’t much difference between "Shanghai Pigeon English" and "Canton Pigeon English". The only big difference between them lies in their accents and usages: one is influenced by the Shanghai dialect and the other by the Cantonese dialect, although "Canton Pigeon English" once helped shape "Shanghai Pigeon English".As a product blended by a language of a superior group (Westerners) and a language of a subordinate eroun (Chinese), Chinese Pidein English in the Late Oine had involved anddeveloped in an "unconscious" or "laissez-faire" way for nearly one century and a half until it formed characteristics of its own at the second part of the 19th century, influencing Sino-foreign exchanges into the first part of the 20th century. The most influential and representative types of the pidgin English in China are "Canton Pigeon English" and "Shanghai Pigeon English". In spite of the fact that "Pidgin English" is non-standard (blended, localized, irregular and oral) and even rough, and the fact that the contacts between Chinese and Westerners at that time were indirect, low-rung and highly-limited, "Pidgin English" still played an irresplaceable part in making Chinese recognize, learn and master English so as to reduce the language and cultural barriers in Sino-foreign communications and to influence the process of China’s modernization in the Late Qing. Of course, it is also hard even today to estimate the extent to which "Pidgin English" distorted and misinterpreted information in that era.The history of "Pigeon English" is the history of the contacts and collisions at the grass-roots level between the Chinese language and the English language, between Chinese culture and Western culture in the Modern Times; it is also the history of a Sino-Western trade language in the Modern Times and the history of Tongshi’s interpretation activities in the Modern Times. The historical study of "Pigeon English" is the fundamental survey of the history of English in the Late Qing period. Like Tongshi, "Pigeon English" was a product of the Sino-foreign trade and a by-product of Westerners’ penetration into China in the Modern Times as well. Its birth, growth and death mirror to some extent the orbit of the vicissitudes of Chinese society of that age.The foreign trade in Canton and Shanghai in the Late Qing, Western schools in China run by missionaries from the 1830s to the Opium War period such as Bridgman School in Canton, the Morrison School in Macao and the Anglo-Chinese College in Hong Kong and Ningbo Girl School in Ningbo, the foreign languages schools in Beijing, Shanghai and Canton run by the Qing court in 1862 and afterwards, the first batch of modern government-run universities after the Sino-Japanese War like Beiyang University and Beijing University, and Chinese scholars’ introduction and translation of Western science, literature and humanities as well as Chinese ’s understanding of Western civilization were all resultant from China’s continuously deepening recognition of the Western civilization. All these new phenomena were interrelated to the spread of English in the country. It can be said that the transmission of the English language promoted toa great degree these new phenomena, which in turn promoted the rise and spread of English in the Late Qing China. The interaction between the two left such an indelible mark in history that we can conclude with confidence that in this course of history "Pigeon English" made its due contributions.This dissertation focuses on the effected history or Wirkungsgeschichte of "Chinese Pigeon English" (Hans-Gadamer) from the historical, linguistic, psychological, cultural and translation perspectives. While borrowing other scholars’ research, the author presents his independent views: 1. The birth and rise of Chinese Pigeon English was the result of the mutual need for the communications between local Chinese and foreigners first in Canton in the Qing Dynasty. 2. The real reason why Westerners didn’t learn the Chinese language in the Late Qing is no different from that Qing officials and literati didn’t learn foreign languages. 3. Many queer pronunciations, articulations and usages in "Pigeon English" are also closely related to some non-standard English variations of that time. 4. The fact that most Tongshi, who used oral "Pigeon English" only, were ignorant of written English often than not caused Sino-foreign communication barriers, misunderstanding and even distortion. To conclude, English was used first by low-rung people in the Late Qing period, and "Pigeon English" was the most representative communication tool for both foreigners and local ordinary people. Under the "pride and prejudice" of Qing officials and literati had been a passion for Western languages and learning, and this passion derived from the masses of people and a few enlightened gentry. No matter what motivated this passion and no matter what filth existed in it, this passion more or less made Western languages and learning popular in the Late Qing. The history of Chinese Pigeon English has verified what F. Nietzsche once said: "Civilization was created by uncivilized people."

  • 【网络出版投稿人】 四川大学
  • 【网络出版年期】2006年 06期
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