Evidence of an English Contact Language in the 19th Century Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands

Daniel Long | Japanese Language and Literature Department, Tokyo Metropolitan University

This paper contends that an English-based contact language developed on the Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands in the 19th century and was used as the language of communication among the settlers there. The factors discussed in support of this contention are: (1) the diversity in the languages of the first-generation settlers, (2) the abundance of mixed-language households, (3) the absence of formal education or literacy, (4) the nature of words reported by Japanese seamen shipwrecked on the island, (5) reports of communication in English between islanders and visitors, (6) the off-island experiences of islanders, (7) written references to a contact language, (8) the continued usage of non-English words, and (9) the linguistic outcomes of similar island communities.

Published online: 13 March 2000
https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.20.2.04lon

Cited by

Cited by other publications

No author info given

2013. In A Dictionary of Varieties of English, ► pp. 363 ff.

Siegel, Jeff

2020. In The Handbook of Language Contact, ► pp. 741 ff.

TRUDGILL, PETER

2003. ON THE REVERSIBILITY OF MERGERS: /W/, /V/ AND EVIDENCE FROM LESSER-KNOWN ENGLISHES. Folia Linguistica Historica 37:Historica vol. 24,1-2

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 02 january 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.