PAPERS IN INDIAN LINGUISTICS   
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Butler English
Priya Hosali

1.    Since the time of Columbus , the course of history has largely been set by the growth of European commerce and power in the rest of the world.  One much misunderstood by-product of this historical process has been the birth in nearly every Oriental, African and American region visited or colonized by Westerners of a form of speech used in contacts with the native population: we would like to call them `contact languages'.

       These contact languages have been formed as a result of the modifications in the languages that have been brought into contact.

       In a great majority of contacts the groups have constituted distinct linguistic as well as ethnic or cultural communities.

       Such contact thus entails bilingualism as well as biculturism (participation in two cultures).

       As two or more languages are involved in contact situations it would be expedient to restrict the term `dominant' to those languages which have a higher social status (it would then be synonymous with prestige), reserving the term `lower' for the other language(s).

       This terminology accords with Bloomfield 's distinction between the `upper' or `dominant' language spoken by the conquering or otherwise more privileged group, and the `lower' language spoken by the subject people.  Linton classifies cultural groups in contact as objectively dominant or dominated and subjectively superior or inferior.

       It seems likely then that pidgins and Creoles develop only in multilingual areas.  Where the contact is between two languages only, one or both groups acquire the other language, either keeping or relinquishing their own, in the process.  But in a multilingual area, a lingua franca, accessible to all groups, is essential if viable and mutual communication is to occur.  Once even the most rudimentary form of language develops, it will be used by sailors, traders and settlers to the natives with whom they are in contact.

1.1.  If the contact is with the French, the French-based pidgin will emerge; if with the Dutch, the pidgin will be Dutch-based.

       In India the contact was between the Englishman and the native.  Thus, a range of Englishes mushroomed "from the home-grown pidgins and Creoles at the one end of the spectrum to the universally accepted formal written registers of standard English" at the other (Spencer 1971, p.6).

I am grateful to my supervisor, Dr. S.K. Verma, for his many valuable suggestions.

       Evidence for such a continuum is to be found in the West Indies , in West Africa , in Hawaii , in parts of Papua New Guinea and indeed in all areas of the world where a pidgin or creole is an important lingua franca.

       The useful term applied to the spectrum that can exist between a creole and a standard form of English is `post-creole continuum'.  If one takes the Jamaican situation to represent such a continuum one finds that the end points of the Jamaican continuum are mutually unintelligible, but there is no clear cut-off point where the creole ends and the standard begins.

       At one end of the continuum is the speech of the highly educated Jamaican leaders, many of whom claim to be speaking standard British, but who are actually using that seems to be evolving into a standard Jamaican English; it is mutually intelligible without undeniably different from standard British.  At the other end is the so-called `broad creole' or `broken language' spoken by the market women; the variety which so far has received the most attention from linguists.

       This variation can be explained within the general framework of differential acculturation among Jamaicas placed in contact with European culture.

1.2    With reference to the Indian situation, the continuum is called the Cline of Bilingualism (Kachru 1969, p.636)1.  It comprises three measuring points: the zero point, the cetral point and the ambilingual points.  The zero point is the bottom point  on the axis, but it is not the end point at the bottom.

       As in Jamaica, English-knowing bilinguals can be ranked on the basis of their competence in different modes of English; the highly educated speaking standard Indian English at the one and the uneducated speaking non-standard English at the other.

       At the ambilingual point, English is used by a community of people and institutions in India for interpersonal and inter-institutional communication in a wide range of contexts.  The users are i) University and College students, and also school student s (trained at English medium school),  ii) teachers (teaching at schools,  colleges and universities), iii) officers and clerks working at All-India establishments, prestigious state establishments, railway, postal, shipping, airlines and travel offices, iv) mid-level and high-level workers at prestigious hotels, restaurants and business establishments, v) scholars participating in All Indian seminars, workshops, and conferences (like this one), vi) All-India newspapers, magazines and journals, vii) All India bodies (governmental and non-governmental) communicating with State level bodies, viii) All India bodies conducting competitive examinations for recruitment to All India services, ix) doctors, lawyers, and other professionals conducting their business, x) members of prestigious clubs and other recreation centers, and xi) creative writers writing their novels, stories, plays, poems and essays in English (Verma 1978, p.1.)

       At the zero point the users are i)  guides showing foreign visitors around, ii) market women selling wares to foreigners frequenting Indian markets, iii) the domestic staff of hotels catering to tourists and upper-class Indians, iv) the domestic staff of prestigious clubs and other recreation centers and v) the generally uneducated domestic staff employed in racially mixed households or in westernized Indian households.

       The Indian situation is represented in diagrammatic form as below.

2.    The scope of this paper has been limited to the consideration of the English used by domestic staff listed at the zero point, specifically those listed under iii), iv) and v).  I believe that their speech has the characteristics of a `true' Pidgin.  It is termed Butler English because the head of the domestic staff of a European household in India used to be called `the butler'2.  Butler English is not restricted to a certain class.  It seems that the co-existence of interdependent but distinct hierarchically arranged social groups is a characteristic of all situations which have given rise to European-based pidgins.

       Hobson-Jobson reports that Butler English is "the broken English spoken by native servants in the Madras Presidency, which is not very much better than the Pidgeon English of China . . . . The oddest characteristic about the jargon is (or was) that masters used it in speaking to their servants as well as servants to their masters".

       (Yule and Burnell 1968, pp. 133-134)

       According to The Times, 11 April 19882, p.80) the English of the Madras and Bombay servants is referred to as Pidgin English.

       Schuchardt affirms that the Bombay servants are generally half-caste Portugese (1891, p.48).

       In The Anglo-Indian Tongue (1877, 542 ff) we read: "In Madras the native domestics speak English of a purity and idiom which rival in eccentricity the famous `pidgin' English of the treaty ports in China, and the masters mechanically adopt the language of their servants".

2.1   Originally, by very definition, all pidgins are restricted with regard to user and use.

       Butler English then is spoken in a very restricted set of domaine mainly for communication on limited matters between master and servant.  It functions as a link language in domestic situations3.

       It is this restricted link language which has the marked features of a pidgin4.

2.2.   In addition pidgins are known as trade languages5.

They are used by traders and tend to die out as soon as the contact which gave rise to them is withdrawn.

       A good example of this type of pidgin is Korean Bamboo English, a very restricted form of English which gained a limited currency between Koreans and Americans during the Korean war.

       In Europe Rossenorsk, a pidgin now almost extinct arose from the contact of two Indo-European languages, Russian and Norwegian, as a means of facilitating communication between Russian and Norwegian fishermen.

3.    Two samples of Butler English from newspapers of 100 years old are given, followed by samples of this variety, from my data, as it is spoken today.

3.1     According to The Times ( 11 April 1882 , p.8c):

1.    "Discovery has been made of a butler stealing large quantities of his master's milk and purchasing the silence of the subordinate servants by giving them a share of the loot; and this is how the ayah (nurse) explains the transaction.

       Butler's every day taking one ollock for own-self, and giving servants all half half ollock; when I am telling that shame for him, he is telling Master's strictly order all servants for the little milk give it – what can I say, mam, I por ayah woman.

       This is pure idiomatic Madrasee boy's English; the chances are that an English-speaking servant in Madras (now Chennai) will use one or other of the idioms here illustrated in every speech that he makes."

       (The butler takes some milk for himself everyday, and gives all the servants half the milk; when I tell him that it is a shame, he tells me that Master has issued strict orders that all the servants should be given a little milk.  What can I say madam? I am a poor ayah).

2)    The following are a handful of sentences in Madras English which are sprinkled throughout the text of Gup = (Indo-English Gossip) (1868):

       "I all right now ma'am.  Missus want amah for the baby? (p.34)

       Master not believe she give `garley'.  Master not believe she throw knives! Master now see what that missus doing. (p.45)

       Yes ma'am, I speaking English – same as missus.  (p.55)

       How I telling? English people very clever; can do everything". (p.169)

       (I am all right now ma'am.  Does Madam want an ayah for the baby?

       Master does not believe that she uses abusive language.

       Master does not believe that she throws knives! Master will see now what madam is doing.

       Yes ma'am, I speak English, in the same way as madam does.

       How can I tell you? English people are very clever; they can do everything).

3.2.   The following are some excerpts from my data:

1)      Raji, an old man of 65, blind in one eye as the result of a shooting accident, describes his work at the Secunderabad Club.

       "What do you do at the swimming-pool?"

       "Swimming-pool because is the Sahibs coming, want some clothes, and shorts, and clothes and towels.  Then give it give some money and purse.  And keep in my almirah.  Then I bring when they will finish their swim then gave back again.

       Swimming pool – because the Sahibs come – they want some clothes and shors – and clothes and towels.  Then they give – some money and their purse.  And I keep it in my almirah.  Then I bring it – when they have finished their swim – and then give it back again).

                                                                                                (S 54)

2)      When Ramanujam was asked what work he did for the English Sahib, his answer was:

       "There is clean room and dirty making bed, and serving the breakfast and dinner".

       (There I had to clean the room, if the bed was dirty – make it: and serve the breakfast and dinner).                                                     (S 20)

3)      Pentiah, another bearer in the Secunderabad Club gives an account of his 24 year-long-service.

       "So you've been working in the Club?

       "Yes ma'am".

       "24 years"

       "Yes ma'am.  Small the boy is coming here – that Tennis boy.  Start is the Tennis boy.  Tennis boy to the Bar boy – Bar boy to that Coffee-Room boy – Coffee-Room boy to Plate Matey – Plate Matey to Silver Matey – that working.  That talking the bearers.  That bearer duty is that 16 years – yeas that’s all".

       (Yes ma'am.  I was a small boy when I came here – as a Tennis boy.  I started as a Tennis boy.  Tennis boy to Bar boy – Bar boy to that Coffee-Room boy – Coffee-Room boy to Plate Matey – Plate Matey to Silver Matey – that is how I have been working.  From that to the bearer's – that bearer's duty is from 16 years – yes, tha's all).

                                                                                                (S 11)

4.    Vijaychander, a lovable and garrulous waiter at Rock Castle Hotel expresses his love of foreigners.

       "Acha, and what do the foreigners do?"

       "Foreigners give only one time.  Bearer's want tea.  Bus.  Is good tea, no good he don't tell back.  Thank me, he's going out.  This is in Indian people who kya miya shakar nahi isme.  Eh kya miya thanda hai pani hai".

       "I see, How much do they give you here – money?"

       "Payment madam.  May be 200 is giving.  But money give tip also 10 – 15.  Is giving only 200 tip gip is.  But there is my Percy Hotel from one day Rs.500.  For me, daily 500.  All foreigners people, English people there is".

       Foreigners give an order only once.  Bearer – I want tea.  That's all.  It is good tea, not good – he doesn't say.  He thanks me when he's leaving.  This is in Indian people – What there is no sugar in this.  Eh what, this is cold, it is like water.

       Payment madam.  May be 200 they give.  But many give a tip also – 10-15.  they give only 200, including tips.  But there is my Percy's Hotel – in one day I got Rs.500/-.  For me, daily 50.  All Foreigners, English people there are).

                                                                                    (S 53, 54)

5)      When the same waiter was asked how he would make tea, he said:

       "What madam first eh put some hot milk one side and hot water take and the tea put, mix then close, then bringing.

And this you know special tea? Put some milk and tea, and sugar and boil.  Then bring it".

       (What madam?  First eh put some hot milk on one side.  And take not water and put the tea.  Mix, then close, then bring.  And this – do you know special tea? Put some milk, and tea, and sugar and boil it.  Then bring it).

                                                                                    (S 39)

6)      Malooh has this to say about making dal.

"First to boiling dal; after some time putting chilly; all this, this all mixing.  After that one this eh . . . "

"What haldi?"

"No haldi I put first.  After that dal is tech . . ."

"Boiling?"

"Boiling . . . that mixing all.  After I put pepper and some oil.  Put t the oil, something chillies, Jeera, all this thing is baghara".

(First I boil dal, after sometime I put chilly; all this – all this I mix.  After that – one – this eh . . .

No. Haldi I put first.  After that dal is tech. . . .

Boiling. I mix all that.  After that I put pepper and some oil. Put the oil, something – chillies, jeera – all these things are steamed).

7)      And Arjuna gives the recipe of an English pudding.

"How do you make this chocolate soufflι?"

"Then? How do you make it?"

"Make for first one make custard.  After for mix it up in gelatine, keep some 5 minute, 10 minute on the fridge – after white eggs for beating – mix it up (H) again put it in the beer – frigidaire – that thing setting all right".

(Chocolate soufflι . . . Take 4 eggs and milk, sugar and eh gelatine.  And cream also.  Make a soufflι.

Make – first make custard.  After that mix it up with gelatine.  Keep it for some 5 minutes or 10 minutes in the fridge – after beating the white of eggs – mix it up.  Then add the beer and keep it back in the frigidaire – the thing sets all right).

                                                                        (S 42, 43)

8)    Muthu who is adept at mixing drinks, is not so adept at describing the process.

       "Acha, what do you do?"

       "Put the before us lime cordial now – whisky put eh before and again put eh lime cordial.  Blue Nile .  It is name is Blue Nile "

(First put the lime cordial.  Not put eh whiskey and again put eh lime cordial.  That is Blue Nile .  It's name is Blue Nile ).

                                                                                    (S 34)

3.3.  The samples illustrate the retention of content words and the deletion of function words like articles and prepositions.  Connectives – those devices by which a text hangs together, are also deleted.  These devices have been listed as text-hanging devices.  What is interesting here is that in spite of the deletion of these devices, these texts function effectively as a system of communication.

       The other features that occur in this variety of English are analyzed in Section 5.

3.4.  It was in 1891 that Schuchardt wrote: "In vain I have tried to obtain from Madras more substantial samples of this English . . . . in recent year it has appeared to be on the wane". (p.48).

       The samples from newspapers and the excerpts from my data though separated by a century – have many features in common.  Butler English has been relatively stable enough to allow it to be described linguistically.

       The intense contact situation however, which gave rise to this variety has gradually ceased to influence it, eversince India gained her independence in 1947.

4.    When we attempt a definition of `pidgin' we begin with the useful myth that short neat definitions can be given for the terms `pidgin' and `creole'.  But the many faceted nature of human languages is unlikely to be encapsulated in a few sentences.

       Some definitions, however, may be accepted as a reasonable compromise.

4.1.  "A pidgin is a marginal language which arises to fulfill certain restricted communication needs among people who have no common language".

                                                                                    (Todd 1974, p.1)

4.2.  "For a language to be a true pidgin two conditions must be met.  Its grammatical structure and its vocabulary must be sharply reduced and the resultant language must be native to none (of those who use it)".

                                                                                    (Hall 1955, p.20)

4.3.   Does Butler English fit these definitions?

When an European master and a native servant are first brought together with their respective languages mutually unintelligible, they do indeed in a few hours or days discover the clues to unimpeded intercourse.

The  samples  listed are a simplified and reduced form of English.  (ss pp. 7-11).

The children of domestics never learn Butler English from their parents who speak it in the work situation only, the Indian language(s) being served for use at home.

5.    Some syntactic and lexico-semantic features of this variety of English are listed below.

5.1     Phonology

Although phonology is not being discussed it may be of interest to note some of the striking features of the pronunciation of my butlers:

1)  cap                   >          kyāp     (also kēp)

     holiday              >          ālīdē

     office                >          hāfis     āfīs

     oil                     >          hoil

     bag                   >          byāg     bāg

     ever                  >          yever

2)      In many cases, consonant clusters were simplified:

rejmat              <          regiment

(j is pronounced as in English)

or the cluster is dissolved by the insertion of a vowel:

turup                 <          troop

or it is shared up by an inserted initial vowel:

isk                    -           isp        -           so         -           sp         -

school   ispecial <          school   special

3)      Names of foods were frequently mispronounced

maastat            mustard

mainaz mayonnaise


5.2.       Classes of words and morphology

5.2.1        Nouns

Plural marker Deletion

       In many European languages, plurality is marked in the article, the adjective and the noun, as well as occasionally by a numeral.

       French

       Les deux grands journaux

       (4 markers of plurality)

       English

       The two big newspapers

       (2 markers of plurality)

       Many pidgins indicate plurality by the numeral only, eliminating redundancy.

       Neo-Melanesian

       Tupela bikpela pepa

       (1 marker of plurality)

Butler English

1)      The two big newspaper

(1 marker of plurality)

2)      I know five language

3)      Three sister

4)      Keep some five minute, ten minute on the fridge

5)      I am driving one month, two month

6)      One piece make four slice like this

Possessive marker Deletion

1)      - that that eh master friends also like for my food.

2)      .. this bearer work is not very good

3)      I started there butler work.

4)      Your father name is . . . .

5)      I living Kumar Mulchandani house

Concord Deletion

       There is sometime no concordial agreement between subject and predicate.

1)      Master like it

2)      Wife stay here – Bangalore

3)      He take the one tine is mango juice

4)      He come

5)      That get all right

6)      Anybody want mixed tea

Explicit Subject/Object/Verb Deletion

1)      . . . . is own laundry

                 (. . .  It is my own laundry)

2)      No, is in the home madam

(No, she is in the house madam)

3)      Father no madam

(I have no father madam)

4)      She ate and gave to Adam

(. . . she ate it and gave it to Adam)

       The first excerpt from my data also illustrates this type of deletion . (See pp. 7 – 8) (Raji).

Gender

       In nouns natural gender can be marked by the use of man/meri in Neo-Melanesian, and man/woman in Cameroon pidgin.

English              Neo-Mel                       Cam . Pidgin

 


hen                               paul meri                       woman fawn

                                    (fowl + meri)                 (woman + fowl)

cock                             paul man                       man fawu

                                    (fowl + man)                 (man + fowl)

girl                                pikinini meri                   woman pikin

boy                               pikinini man                   man pikin

                                                                                    (Todd 1974, p. 17)

       Gender distinctions in some nouns are made by the same process in Butler English.

            English                                    Butler English

            dughter                         girl baby

            son                                           boy baby

5.2.2.        Pronouns

In pidgins and Creoles gender distinction in pronouns are reduced or eliminated.

                                                                        (Todd 1974, p. 17)

Examples from Butler English

1)      But the Devil being envious came in the form of Satan and tempted Eve to eat the fruit.  So he listened --- took a fruit.

2)      My mother is working British-cook ayah.  His name is Teresa.

3)      He is working and Mirchandani Kumar house.  (The reference is to the daughter).

5.3.3.        Verbs

       The verb phrase, in particular, in Butler English is much simpler than in the standard variety.

Present Participle : A Tense Carrier

       According to Schuchardt, (1891, p.49) the most characteristic feature of Butler English is the use of the present participle (or gerund) for the present (and probably only secondarily for the future).

       This can be explained as having a universal origin: the durative present replacing the simple present in the Cape Verde Portugese Creole, Sino-Portuguese, and Tagalo-Spanish.

       Hobson-Jobson reports:

       "It: (Butler English) is a singular dialect, the present participle for example being used for the future indicative . . . Thus: I telling = (I will tell)."

                                                (Yule and Burnell 1968, pp. 133-134)

This feature was the most prominent in the speech of my butlers.

1)         I always reading Bible bed-time

(I always read the Bible at bed-time)

2)         Malesh also not speaking English)

3)         I telling memsahib)

(I will tell memsahib)

4)         Yeh call me.  I coming

(Yeh call me. I will come)

5)         I waiting for Jesus Christ to come . . . .

(I am waiting for Jesus Christ to come . . . .)

6)         I say I not coming

(I said I am not coming)

7)         They working

(they were working)

8)         Yes, I speaking boy only English and Tamil

(Yes, as a boy I spoke only English and Tamil)

9)         I working there's eh ten years now

(I have been working here eh for ten years now)

       The examples illustrate that though the present participle is used for the present (see also p.10) (Malesh) and the future it is used also for many of the other tenses in English.  It functions as a tense carrier, several tense forms being reduced to one.

       Distinctions regarding to time and continuity of action are either understood from the context or are indicated by adverbials.

Copula Deletion

       Ferguson has for some time now been concerned with the concept of simplicity in language, i.e. the possibility of rating some part of a language (e.g. a clause type/a phonological sequence as in some sense simpler than another comparable part in the same language or another language.

       He states that in pairs of clauses differing by presence and absence of a copula in a given language, speakers will generally rate the one without the copula as simpler and easier to understand.  (1971, p.146).

       It will, therefore, tend to be omitted in simplified registers such as baby talk and foreigner talk.

       Going a step further he suggests that a pidgin language whose lexical source is a Type A language (that is a language which has a copula in all normal neutrale equational clauses), would tend to omit the copula.

       Examples from Butler English

       (whose lexical source is Standard English)

1)      My mother only alive

(Only my mother is alive

2)      My children here

(My children are here)

3)      Indira also good

(Indira also is good)

4)      . . . . villages they nice

(. . . in the villages they are nice)

5)      . . . . but they also very poor

(. . . but they were also very poor)

6)      I poor boy

(I am a poor boy)

7)      Everything ready

(Everything is ready)

8)      So after that nobody there

(So after that nobody was there)

       Both Dravidian and Indo-Aryan languages have copulative verbs, but in equational sentences which identify one NP with another, it is common in Dravidian languages to have no copula.

       Tamil

       avar               enga            appā

       he                  our              father

=     he is our father

       Such sentences normally have a copula in India-Aryan languages.

       Hindi

       Vo             hamāre             pitāji     hγi

       He             our                   father   is

=     he is our father

       All butlers in my corpus tend to delete the copula, regardless of the languages they speak.  This feature then seems to have its source in a universal pattern of linguistic behaviour appropriate to contact situations.

       This is further corroborated by the fact that neither French nor English-based pidgins or Creoles have a copula in identifying sentences, though both the metropolitian varieties do.

1)      Standard French

il/ elle est beu / belle

Haitian Creole

li bel

2)      Standard English

he/she/itr is handsome/fine

Camereon Pidgin

I fain

       This trait has also received great attention with regard to Black English.

Serial Verb Structures

       Serial verb structures occur more widely in pidginized language than in ther non-pidginized relations.

1)      Yes sare, all done, gone finished whole

2)      I think I thought I'm thinking

I finished next year . . . .

3)      One lady been took me to Calcutta

      


Preterite Indicative formed by Done

       Another characteristic feature of Butler English – the preterito indicative being formed by `done' (quoted in Hobson-Jobson from where the examples are taken) seems to have died out.

       I done tell               =          (I have told)

       Done come            =          (actually arrived)

       Not a single instance of its use has been recorded.

5.3.  Syntax

5.3.1        Sentence Negators

       Like the negators in English-based pidgins, the negator in Butler English follows the subject and precedes the verb  phrase;

1)      I no read some picture books

(I don't read any picture books)

2)      I not go there

(I did not go there)

3)      No, she not work

(No, she did not work)

       or it initiates a negative imperative sentence.

       1)  No water add. No oil also, not necessary

     (Don't ad any water. Don't add any oil also – it is necessary).

In very reduced utterances we get:

1)      Not like that picture.  Not like picture madam

(I do not like pictures.  I do not like pictures madam)

2)      . . . not not taking children

(I do not not talk to the children)

3)      No, no I only speaking the Telugu.  Not eh speak the other . . .

(No. no. I only speak Telugu.  I do not eh speak the other .

       Double negation was noted.

       No. I didn't got no son

       (No. I haven't got any sons)          

5.3.2.        Question formation

       Interrogation is usually signaled by intonation alone, whereas in the related standard, there is normally a change in word order.

1)      Then what you are doing?

(Then what are you doing?)

2)      What I can tell ma: another story?

(What can I tell ma'am: another story?)

 

3)      What parent I've got?)

(What parents have I got?)

       Haitian Creole and Cameroon Pidgin signal intonation in the same way.

1)      Standard French

Est – il beau?

Est – elle belle?

Haitian Creole

li bel?

2)      Standard English

Is he/she/it hadsome/fine?

Cameroon Pidgin

I fain?

         In another cases where a dummy `do' is obligatory in Standard English, it is deleted in Butler English.

1)          Which you want to learn?

(What do you want to learn?)

2)          What I want to say?

(What do I want to say?)

3)          Indian what is give madam?

(Indians – what do they give madam?

4)          You know hostel?

(Do you know the hostel?)

5)          You know Adam Evals?

(Do you know Adam and Eve)

Question Tags

          Standard English has a complex system of rules to generate question-tags.  Butler English has reduced this complex system to one simple rule: i.e. suffixation of `no'.

1)        You sending books also no?

(You are sending me books also, aren't you?)

2)        I told you no?

(I told you didn't I?

`No' is sometimes the semantic equivalence of `you know'.

1)        . . . some is barmen no madam

(. . . some are barmen you know madam)

2)        That is no . . . 4 years

(He was you know - - - 4 years old)

5.3.3. Ponominal Emphatic Marker

          Worthy of mention is the iteration of the subject by an anaphoric or cataphoric pronoun.

          I means people they ask masala omelette

          My master Mangalorkar he know

          Then mother and father they sitting that cart

          Put it the oil

          . . . and another one I saw it Don

          Just eh when it's come put it tomato

5.4.       Lexicon

5.4.1   Scanty vocabulary

          Butler English, like other pidgins referred to, has a smaller vocabulary than the language to which it is related, a vocabulary which aims at maximum utility in a corntact situation.

          An example of this is the use of `come' for `become'

          "—fry until this chicken's comes little brown. . .  then with bacon's comes very brown then you put onion – when onion is comes very that is brown . . ."

          (-- fry until the chicken becomes a little brown . . .

then when the bacon becomes very brown you put - -  put the onion – onion – when onion becomes very – that is brown . . . )

5.4.2.Neologistic creations

          To extend the pidgin's vocabulary new words may be coined (enjoysome = enjoyable, on the analogy of `trouble-some') or words compounded together.

5.4.3.   Word Compounding

This is of 3 types:

Both lexical items are from English

                                                         =  (English Compounds)

Both lexical items are from Indian Languages

                                                         + (Indian Compounds)

One lexical item is from English and the other from Indian languages        =          (Hybrid Compounds)

          English Compounds

1)        Dining bearer

2)        Table boy

3)        Second boy

4)        Running boy

5)        Tennis boy

6)        Dressing boy

7)        Bar boy

8)        Coffee-room boy

          Schuchardt notes that the Indo-English word `boy' is modelled on Portugese moo = (boy/servant) and has come to mean in India any kind of servant.

          Indian Compounds

          1)    Dal curry          <     Hindi/Urdu Dal

                                        =     pulses + Tamil curry = soup

          2)    Monda coolie    <     Monda = the name of a market in

                                               Hyderabad + (?) coolie = labourer

          Hybrid Compounds

          1)    brandy pawnee<      brandy + Hindi/Urdu pani = water

          2)    masala omelette<     Hindi/Urdu masala = spices + omelette

          3)    punkah boy       <     Hindi/Urdu punkah = fan + boy

          4)    haldi power       <     Hindi/Urdu haldi = turmeric + power

          5)    meat curry        <     meat + Tamil curry = soup

          6)    angry wallah     <     angry + Hindi/Urdu wallah = man/person

          7)    baby ayah         <     baby + Portuguese aya = nanny/female

                                               servant

          8)    chokra job         <     Hindi/Urdu chokra = office boy + job

          9)    plate matey       <     plate + (?) māty = washer

          10)  silver matey      <     silver + (?) māty = washer

          The Little Oxford Dictionary (OD) defines `matey' as "an assistant domestic servant, especially in South India :. (1979, p.708) An informant defined it as `washer'.  For the use of compounds in context see pp. 8,9 (Pentiah).

5.4.4.   (Reduplication)

Reduplicated forms occur in all the English-based pidgins and Creoles.  In Butler English they are used mainly as intensives.

A servant is giving her mistress instructions for making pickle:

"I can tell. Cut nicely brinjal, little little piece.  Ginger, garlic, chilly, red chilly, mustard and jeera all wanted.  Grind it in the vinegar.  No water.  After put the oil.  Then put it all the masala little little, slowly slowly, fry it nice nice.  Smells coming, then you can put the brinjal – not less oil.  Then after it cooking in the oil make it cold.  Put it in the bottle." (I can tell you.  Cut the brinjal nicely into very little pieces.  You need ginger, garlic, chilly – red chilly, mustard and jeera.  Grind them with vinegar.  Don't add water.  Afterwards put the oil – then put all the masala, gradually.  Fry it very slowly, very nicely.  When you get a nice aroma, you can add the brinjal.  Put enough oil.  Then after it has cooked in the oil, make it cold.  Put it in the bottle).

Standard European languages also emplpy iteration but only marginally, for purposes of intensification, and the iteration is of a different type.

Most standard English iteratives are of the albaut type (ding- dong) or the rhyming type (razzle-dazzle; hoity-toity), which are quite rare in pidgin.  The common pidgin type is total iteration which is represented in standard English by only a few combination like the choo-choo train and the go-go girl.

5.4.5.   Terms of Address

Certain lexical items were used as terms of address.

The master of the house was generally designated `Sahib', while the mistress was addressed as `ma', or `missy'.

I told ma

Why you not marrying missy

`Ma'am', `madam' and `memsahib' were other common appellations used.

The children were referred to as `baba lok', `baba' being reserved for the boy and `baby' for the girl.

6.       Admixture

6.1         Loan Words

These were frequently the names of ingredients used in cooking:

1)    ghee =          clarified butter

2)    masala         =          spices

3)    dal               =          pulses

(Also see p.10)    (Malesh)

or the names of vessels in which the food was cooked.  Deckshi = saucepan without a handle.

6.2.        Code-mixing

          Sometimes, Indian words were used in an otherwise English sentence.

1)        Half loan giving, half taking half māf

(She gives half loan, takes half, and does not take half = half is forgiven)

2)        And idoo Pineapple juice?

(And this Pineapple juice?)

3)        All right.  Acha.  Allright

(All right.  Allright.  All right

4)        Only for the English khānā I cooked very well.

Because that desi I don't know.

(Only English food I cooked very well.  Because that Indian I don't know).

5)        Only that meat curry and dāl curry. Bus

(Only that meat curry and dal curry. Tha's all)Code switching

6.3.  Code switching

At times the switch from one language to another was complete.

1)        Why? Acha. Acha. Thīk hƐ

(Why? All right.  All right.  It's all right)

2)        Indian master . . . . thodā ādmi achā hƐ

Some sahibs angry-wāllāh hƐ

      (Indian masters . . . . some men are good . . . some sahibs are angry men = short-tempered).

       (Also see p.9)        (Viayachander)

       These Indian elements were tolerated in Butler English, because the colonial master himself picked up a smattering of the Indian vocabulary.

6.4   As English and Indian language(s) are in contact, we can assume a carry-over of Indian syntactic patterns into Butler English and possible vice versa.  Many sentences have an SOV word order (a feature of Indian languages) rather than the corresponding SVO order of standard English.  As more than one Indian language is involved, though, it is difficult to say with any certainty, which language influence the syntax. (See pp 9, 10 Vijayachander).

6.5  We can now assert that the structure of Butler English is simplified and reduced, and betrays the confluence of different linguistic traditions.  This does not mean that it is a simple language, but that it seems simplified in comparison to its model.  When studied as a language in its own right, it is a net work of complexities.

       Inspite of the fact it is a restricted language, it is a language and, therefore, it is a rule-governed system with certain marked features which have already been listed (See section 5).

       In order to reinforce the point I would like to give some examples from Melanesian Pidgin English, described by Hall in Hands off Pidgin English (1955).

1)             The Pronominal suffix – fela is added to first and second person pronouns to indicate plural number

mi    =          I/me                 mifela               =          we/us

ju     =          you                   jufela                =          you (plural)

2)             The objective suffix –im is added to the verb when it is followed by a direct object.

Ju                fajtim                pig

(you keep striking the pig)

givim            kaj        kaj

(give food)

3)             The preposition bIl indicates possession :

skru             bIl        arm      =          elbow

skru             bIl        leg        =          knee

 

gras             bIl        hed       =          hair

gras             bIl        maus    =          beard

7.        Conclusion :

       The study of pidgins and Creoles offers new insights into human languages. 

       Linguistic history, as traditionally presented by philologists, normally focuses attention on standard forms exemplified in written texts; and the resulting impression is of a smooth organic development to be understood and documented with scant reference to any interplay of social forces.

       Pidgins and Creoles, on the other hand, emerge in conditions of social and ethnic turbulence, in situations of sharp cultural and linguistic confrontation, and without benefit of literacy.  They are communicative tools forged and shaped under stress, whether in slave plantation, trading post, polyglot  city or army camp.

       The very nature of their structure and lexical resources compels attention to the social and cultural circumstances of their origin, transmission and persistence.

       The question arises as to whether we may have over-looked similar conditions and consequences at certain stages in the history of many of the languages of the world.

       Finally the study of these linguistic poor relations of the great language families, bred in harsh and limiting conditions may yet have much to tell us about the nature of human interaction through language and about man's innate communicative competence.

NOTES :

1.    The term was originally used by Halliday and Catford, in 1964.

2.    According to The Anglo-Indian Tongue 1877 541ff).

       "Who can ever bring himself to allow that the greasy half-caste menial in cotton jacket a fortnight removed from cleanness, whom Bombay housekeepers designate butler, has anything in common with the dignified domestic in black coat and spotless neck cloth who superintends our family means in England?" (Anyone who has read P.G. Wodehouse will know what is meant.  "Is it not more appropriate to call him khansamah like his Bengal representative?" (Xānsāmān Persian/Hindustani Xansaman = house steward/master of provisions).

3.    Some have labeled the variety Kitchen English.

4.         In Indo-English (1891) Schuchardt discusses the English of natives and Eurasians in India (termed Indo-English) which he calls a pidgin language and divides into five types:

a)             Butler English of Madras

b)             Pidgin English of Bombay

c)             Boxwallah English of Upper India (spoken by itinerant peddlers: box Hindi/Urdu bakas + wala = man)

d)             Chee chee (chee-chee, chi-chi) English spoken every where by Eurasians.

e)             Baboo (Babu) English spoken in Bengal and elsewhere.

5.         The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines Pidgin as a Chinese corruption of English "business" used widely for any action, occupation or affair'.

/bizniz/              /pidzin/

       Trade varieties of English were equated with parrot-like repetitions.  The spelling for the bird and the language were interchangeable.

6.         Each sample of Butler English has been translated into its corresponding standard English equivalent, the translation not being too idiomatic as features characteristic of this variety would be lost.  The procedure brings out similarities as well as differences and provides better insight into communication processes.  It can, of course, lay no claim to reconstructing exactly what is meant.

7.         The analysis is based on corpus of 70 full-scap typed pages of text (though I have 300 pages in all) tape-recorded in natural settings during a three-month period.  The informants were seventy-five domestics (some of them indeed very important like the Nizam's butler, Sir Mirza Ismail's dressing-boy and Maharajah of Mysore's cook), comprising both sexes, ranging from the ages of 20 to 70 – some totally uneducated, others semi-educated.

The questionnaire used elicits information on the butler's general family background, his tradition of domestic service etc.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.    Ferguson , C.

"Absence of copula and the notion of simplicity: a study of normal speech, baby talk, foreigner talk and pidgins".  In D. Hymes (Ed.) Pidginization and creolization of languages. 1971. pp 141-150.

2.    Hall, R.A.

       Hands of Pidgin English Sydney, Pacific Publications Pvt. Ltd., 1955.

3.         Hosali, P.

Butler English: form and function.

(Unpublished Ph.D dissertation) Hyderabad : Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages. 1982.

4.         Kachru, B.B.

"English in South Asia ".  In T.A. Sebeok (Ed.)

Current trends in linguistics. 1969. 5. pp. 627-678.

5.         Schuchardt, H. "Indo-English".  In H. Schuchardt (Ed.) Pidgin and/creole languages. 1980. pp. 38 – 64.

6.         Spencer, J. The English language in West Africa . London : Longmans. 1971.

7.         Todd, L. Pidgins and Creoles. London :

Routledge and Kegan Paul. 1974.

8.         Verma, S.K. Swadeshi English: form and function. Paper read at the 10th congree of anthropological and ethnological sciences, New Delhi . 1978.

9.         Yule H. and A.C. Burnell. Hobson-Jobson: A glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, and of kindred terms, etymological, historical, geographical and discoursive.  India : Munshiram Manoharlal.1968.