Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (IA journalofstrait121878roya).pdf/235

 but it is never used in the sense of the modern Chin-Chin, and the natives believe the latter to be pure English. One of the most curious "pidgin" words is an excrescence pronounced ga-lah. It has no signification, and is simply added to a word or sentence to round it off, A Chinaman will thus say, "my wantsee go topside ga-lah" for "I shall be going upstairs" or "up town." The origin of this queer word is found in Chinese colloquial. Each dialect has certain "empty sounds," as the syllables are appropriately named, which are affixed to the ends of sentences to satisfy certain laws of rhythm, and the commonest of these is ko-lo or ko-la, which has easily changed into ga-lah. I must not omit to mention a word which is of constant use and without which a Chinaman quite breaks down in the simplest phrases the word piecey. This represents what is termed the "classifier" which in Chinese colloquial precedes most substantives and to which a close analogy is shewn by such words as orang, buah, biji &c. in Malay. As Chinese however possesses some 75 of these useful words there is no need to look beyond it for the derivation of their pidgin equivalent.

Although pidgin English seems, when first heard by an unaccustomed stranger, to be as difficult as a veritable foreign language, its inverted construction and curious mispronunciation are very easily acquired, and it therefore continues in extensive use. A colloquy committed to writing looks curious. Suppose, for instance, a foreigner to have called about some business on a native merchant:


 * Chinaman. Ai yah! chin-chin; how you do?
 * Foreigner. Chin-chin; any piecee news have got?
 * Ch. No got news: thisee day b'long too muchee hot?
 * For. Yes; too muchee hot; you pidgin numba one?
 * Ch. Pidgin no b'long good jus' now; you got any pidgin for my?
 * For. My got littee smallo piecee; my wantsee buytee one lole (roll) sillik (silk.)
 * Ch. Ah! my got plenty. What fashion coloh you wantsee? Allo fashion have got. That Guvnoah mississee (Governor's wife) any time come thisee shop makee buytee (always deals at this shop); etc.. etc.

It does not appear that pidgin English will die out. Numbers of Chinese, indeed, thanks to emigration to the United States, and the increased facilities available in the British