The impact of work environment on verbs in Gulf Pidgin Arabic
In this paper, I propose that the Arabic-based migrant pidgin Gulf Pidgin Arabic (GPA) is shaped by the initial work
environment of its speakers. My data consist of recordings of conversations with 16 GPA speakers living in Oman and the
United Arab Emirates, who have learned the language working either as shopkeepers or as maids in private homes. By looking at the
use of verb forms, I find that the maids use significantly more verbs derived from imperatives than the shopkeepers, and argue
that this is the result of the social context in which they work. I then compare the speech of the maids to the speakers of Pidgin
Madam (PM) in Lebanon, who work in a similar environment, and show that while these two varieties share the preponderance
of imperative verbs, the feminine-derived forms which make up most of the verbal inventory of PM are comparatively rare
in maids’ GPA. I attribute this to the existence of similar yet distinct foreigner talk norms in the Gulf and in Lebanon,
each of them reflecting the composition of the migrant population in their respective regions.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.The collection of data
- 3.Language and work environment
- 4.The pidgin verb
- 5.Verb forms and the nature of employment: Maids and shopkeepers
- 6.Verb forms and regional foreigner talk norms: Maids’ GPA and PM
- 7.Conclusion
- Notes
- Abbreviations
-
References