Ebonics in Russian translation?

[John Dunn]

It seems that моя [moja] was used as a first-person pronoun both in the Kjakhta pidgin (used for trading contacts on the border between the Russian and Chinese Empires) and in Russenorsk (used for similar contacts between Russians and Norwegians).  Both pidgins have been described, but they were never, as far as I know, codified.  

John Dunn.
________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Francoise Rosset [frosset at WHEATONMA.EDU]
Sent: 02 June 2011 17:05
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Ebonics in Russian translation?

Two things.
One is the apparent consistency of the "pidgin" used in the Russian
translations cited. "Moya" seems to take the place of "ya," and
infinitives are used for all verb forms. John Dunn mentioned this
could be a regional pidgin; it's also in the translations cited by
Robert, and -- if I remember correctly -- the Goldi tracker-hunter
Dersu Uzala speaks like that too. So it may indeed be some generic
pidgin and not merely for African speakers. Is there any evidence that
anything was ever codified?

The other thing was Romy's mention of the Tintin books: I assume she
means the language used by African natives in Tintin au Congo. This
actually has a name in French, ... "petit nègre."

Turns out "petit nègre," which I assumed was merely a nasty
caricature, was actually TAUGHT to native populations in the French
colonies (or in this case, Belgian colony.) Evidently it served as a
default shortcut "vehicular language," used for communication
primarily in the military. The more educated presumably learned the
colonial "mother" tongue, in school.

A descriptive "grammar" was created for this "language." It includes
putting verbs in the infinitive, using "there" for all demonstratives,
and using one token preposition for all prepositions.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petit_nègre
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petit_n%C3%A8gre

A tangent about this business of learning the "mother" tongue: in the
French colonies it extended to learning French culture as one's own.
My mother used to work for the Côte d'Ivoire mission to the UN. During
one reception, everybody had a good laugh remembering school and how
the African diplomats had all been taught from the same textbooks as
the French had. (The same textbooks were used in Vietnam, Laos etc. as
well) And since French schooling back then was based on recitation,
they all recited, in chorus, the beginning and catch-phrase of their
elementary school history:
"Nos ancêtres les Gaulois ..."

-FR


Francoise Rosset, Associate Professor
Chair, Russian and Russian Studies
Coordinator, German and Russian
Wheaton College
Norton, Massachusetts 02766
Office: (508) 285-3696
FAX:   (508) 286-3640

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