You talkin'?

QUESTION: Does Pidgin talk express fine distinctions of meaning?

“You savvy who’s ‘at disfella atime i-razorOim grass belong face finish?"

“What?!” would not be an unusual response to the above question; however, some people actually talk this way and can extract meaning from such a seemingly odd arrangement of words. The above sentence is known as “Pidgin talk,” and according to the study guide for Linguistics 101 it is translated as follows: “Do you recognize this man since he had shaved his beard?” Hmmm….

In An Introduction to Language, Fromkin says that Pidgins “with their small vocabularies… are not good at expressing fine distinctions of meaning” (435). Let’s research this statement with an examination of our opening sentence, shall we?

Starting at the beginning with “You savvy” the recipient knows that they are to try to understand something or grasp some idea maybe. So at this point I think I might be savvy. Next, is “who’s.” Okay, so now we are to understand something about someone. Got it. Moving on: “disfella.” That someone is a man. Okay, now comes “atime.” I am becoming less savvy. Does “atime” mean now? I don’t know, but I know that time plays a part in what I am to understand about some man. The next letter combination is “i-razorOim.” I say letter combination because at this point I am not sure if actual words are being spoken. i-razorOim? Oh boy. Well, I see “razor” in there. Let’s put it all together at this point. So far I have now deciphered that I am to understand something about a man at some time with a razor. This could get scary, but we must continue. Next is “grass.” Got that one! “Belong face finish?” completes the sentence, so now I know I am being asked a question. I understand the last three words; however the placement leaves room for decoding. Let’s see how savvy I am at this point. Do I understand something about a man now that a razor had something to do with grass that belonged on his face? Am I finished? Not quite. Now it is time to decode even further. A man might have had to cut actual grass from his face, but more than likely there is a hidden meaning here. Let’s see. A razor cuts. Grass grows. Hair grows on a man’s face and razors shave hair. Woo! So a man shaved his beard or mustache and I am being asked if I know who he is now that he has finished. Savvy? I believe so.

How “savvy” is Pidgin language, though? It sure seems like a lot of work to understand. If a Pidgin talker would have asked me that question, I would have had to frustratingly ask for him or her to repeat the questions several times. Without having the actual sentence spelled out in front of me I would have had a significantly more difficult time understanding what I was being asked. So, the question is “Are Pidgins capable of ‘expressing fine distinctions of meaning’?” They are certainly capable of expressing meaning, and in a colorful way, but I do not believe the language is finely tuned. It is jumbled and confusing. I still cannot make much sense out of “i-razorOim!” It is a creative language with its analogy of grass to hair; some may even say poetic. It is not concise, though. It leaves room for too much interpretation. So my ultimate answer is that Pidgin talk does not “express fine distinctions of meaning.” Although, that mean not does it that isn’t fun it tryin' savvy!