Pidgin English Love Quotes

The Chief took my hand. His felt like leaves – cool and dry. And then he spoke in Bislama, the English-based pidgin that helps the people of the Vanuatu archipelago, with their eighty islands and their 118 languages, understand one another. ‘Bilip,’ he said. ‘Me wantem come.’ Philip. I want him to come. It sounded aggrieved, as if Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, King of the World and son of the local mountain god, was pushing it a bit and the Chief had had enough. Then he tapped the ground and pointed at me. What brought you here? ‘Long story,’ I said. They understood, because the words mean the same in Bislama. And they laughed at that, and settled down around us on logs and stones, in that windy, dusty meeting ground, rubbing their hands. Down Tanna way, they love a long story. It was 1982 when Prince Philip rode in a train to Manchester, passing right by my bedroom window, and waved at me.

This story is by no means intended to be about the Deaf experience, as I am not qualified to share that. It is a fictional love story. I simply created this story with a mix of hearing and Deaf characters to honor the Deaf community in gratitude for having the pleasure of dipping my toes into their diverse culture. However, before the story begins, I want you, the reader, to have a bit of background knowledge about this language I hold so dear. American Sign Language is its own language, it is not simply English on the hands. ASL has its own morphemes, phonemes, syntax, and grammatical rules. Because ASL has had immense contact with spoken English, there are some variations that include: Manually Coded English (MCE), Signed Exact English (SEE), Pidgin Signed English