Dialects and Pidgins

Dialects and Pidgins
History of the English Language
Prof. G. Steinberg

Below is a passage from the Gospel of St. Mark in Cameroon English Pidgin and in an English translation. State some of the similarities and differences between the two languages.

Cameroon English Pidgin:
Di fos tok fo di gud nuus fo Jesus Christ God yi Pikin. I be sem as I di tok fo di buk fo Isaiah, God yi nchinda, "Lukam, mi a di sen man nchinda fo bifo yoa fes weh yi go fix yoa rud fan." Di vos fo som man di krai fo buš: "Fix di ples weh Papa God di go, mek yi rud tret."

English:
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the book of Isaiah the prophet, "Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee." The voice of one crying in the wilderness, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."

What phonological and lexical features can you identify in each of the expressions below that are characteristic of a regional or ethnic dialect. I recommend that you "translate" the expression first into Standard American English (in the International Phonetic Alphabet) and then examine your transcription in comparison with the transcription given below for the dialect. What is systematically different about the dialect? (NOTE: The symbol ¶ is as close as I can get to a representation of the schwa.)

ð¶ s¶n i ops t¶ bi wIf ¶m bof Iz m¶m n Iz dæd

hi pæs d¶ titš¶r hu w¶z sItn æt h¶ des

hIm n mi w¶z frenz In ð¶ armi

Iz It ¶ nu blu bajk ov¶ de

den i wen t¶ baj spetš¶l tšuz f¶r d¶ wedIn

mInI av ma frenz wIl se ðet ðer tard

Iz It ¶ mIs wIlj¶mz hu bi w¶rk¶n hi¶

hi wet¶d In ¶ kju f¶ ¶dIš¶n¶l petr¶l

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