LL-L "Language varieties" 2005.11.20 (03) [E]

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   L O W L A N D S - L * 20 November 2005 * Volume 03
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From: Jacqueline Bungenberg de Jong <Dutchmatters at comcast.net>
Subject: pidgins, pigeons and turkeys

Ron, Re: pidgins once more: ( sorry I cleaned out my mailbox and send the
last message awaaaaay...) I do see what you mean linguistically. If there is
going to be a pidgin, then it is a pidgin using the language of the "more
powerful" who is going to be the donor. It is when you state categorically
that that is due to colonialist politics that I take a few steps back. I was
not born in the then Dutch East Indies, but the many "blanda" friends I made
all spoke Maleis (Malay) as the lingua franca. ( So maybe Malay was not the
lingua franca in New Guinea (West Irian) And mind you, I am not stating that
these people were political liberals, some of them decidedly where not; but
others were. Maybe it is that the Dutch went there initially as traders and
had at least initially fewer thought of "Empire" than other nations. For
them business came second, after keeping the English and the Spanish away
from "their" resources. Jacqueline

One more thing. I have been looking at the origin of the turkey (the bird)
I assume that in the lowland forum this bird has been disected in linguistic
fashion by the multinational membership of this honorable forum. If not I
suggest we do.   Jacqueline

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language varieties

Hi, Jacqueline!

Your turkey track had better be separated under the title "Etymology."

You seem to have a point regarding the Dutch East Indies.

You have to remember that Coastal Malay, which in Indonesia later developed 
into Indonesian (being different from the Malay of Malaysia and Singapore 
only dialectically and with regard to loanword sources), was not the 
indigenous language of the area but had long been a lingua franca there, a 
lingua franca with influences from various indigenous languages.  It 
flourished in ports and gradually made its way inland.  Malay is relatively 
easy to learn by anyone, infinitely easier than, say, Sundanese and 
especially Javanese with its complex social levels and modes.  Thus, the 
Dutch administration met with an established system, and not only the 
indigenous population but also the Chinese and many Dutch became conversant 
in Malay.  The "Eurasians" (people of mixed indigenous and Dutch ancestry) 
later developed Petjoh as a native language, namely Dutch dialects on 
indigenous substrates.  But I believe it was not used as a lingua franca. 
Most of the Peranakan (of indigenous and Chinese ancestry) adopted Malay as 
their native language, though with Chinese influences.  Good education 
involved the study of Dutch, for most Dutch families preferred 
Dutch-speaking servants.  However, as I know from personal accounts (having 
lived in Western Australia, where many Indies-born Dutch people live(d)), 
many nannies taught their charges Malay, Sundanese or Javanese anyway, and 
that stood many of the kids in good stead, gave them better insight, 
appreciation and compassion.

(I think that the administration saw Iryan Jaya as a separate entity, 
despite the presence of "Malays" there, especially in coastal towns.  In 
fact, culturally and linguistically it ought to be a part of Papua-New 
Guinea.)

The situation in Indonesia may be a bit similar to the one the British 
administration found in place in Eastern Africa when they took it off 
Germany: Suahili, a type of Bantu-Arabic pidgin that developed into a creole 
by becoming the native language of the Suahili ethnicity with Bantu-Arabic 
ancestry, first in Zanzibar, then spreading to various port cities, then 
inland and eventually picked up as a lingua franca in a large area (which in 
post-colonial Africa has been extended as far west as the Congo and Central 
Africa).  Under British power, the language received a hefty dose of English 
loans.  Again, having inherent flexibility and lacking "difficult" features 
such as Bantu tonality and Arabic-specific sounds, Suahili was relatively 
easily picked up by resident Europeans and Asians as well.  Nevertheless, 
those locals that wanted to be upwardly mobile had to acquire English in 
addition.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron 

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