September 4, 2009

I always love attending seminars because they always set off my new train of thoughts on issues which I may not be familiarized with or have overlooked before, albeit they are in one sense or another related to our lives. On Tuesday the Chinese Civilisation Centre held a seminar featuring three visiting scholars’ research topics, one of which particularly drew my attention because of my long-held interest in magazines and newspapers around the globe and the language of English – its history, development and spread around the world.

The topic was ‘Western Magazines and Newspapers’ report on Chinese Pidgin English in the 19th Century’, presented by Dr Si Jia, associate professor of Fudan University’s Department of History, who’s currently a visiting scholar at the Chinese Civilisation Centre. While such newspaper reports might perhaps be of practical uses – especially for those western merchants who did trade with the Chinese, I couldn’t help but wonder was there any other reason leading to such an editorial decision?

During her talk, Dr Si cited a few publications that carried Pidgin English, such as Household Words, The New York Times, The Nation, Harpers, all of which were major publications (some of them are still occupying a prominent role in contemporary English-speaking world) in that period. These magazines and newspapers, as Dr Si told us, had collected samples of Pidgin English in late 29th century, the publication of which had acted as a window through which English-speaking readers could take a glimpse into this particular language system .

When listening to her presentation, my mind wandered to the current discussion on ‘World Englishes’ and how such a notion has become an arena through which national characteristics, or perhaps more accurate to say, cultural (including linguistic) characteristics being brought into literary work. While it is certainly a treasure trove for linguists to delve into, for the interest of the wider reading public, these ‘linguistic’ features have emerged as footprints on which the cultural, social and political development could be traced. Isn’t it?

Written by: hiuylee