Chinese Pidgin English

Chinese Pidgin English
Chinese Coastal English, Pigeon English
RegionChina, Northern Australia and Nauru
Era17th–19th centuries
survives in Nauruan Pidgin English
Dialects
  • Nauruan Pidgin English
Language codes
ISO 639-3cpi
Glottologchin1253
Linguasphere52-ABB-da

Chinese Pidgin English (also called Chinese Coastal English or Pigeon English) was a pidgin language lexically based on English, but influenced by a Chinese substratum. From the 17th to the 19th centuries, there was also Chinese Pidgin English spoken in Cantonese-speaking portions of China. Chinese Pidgin English is heavily influenced by a number of varieties of Chinese with variants arising among different provinces (for example in Shanghai and Ningbo).