Re: Bigbabytalk -a primitive language for AI

On Sat, Sep 09, 2000 at 09:58:22PM -0400, Jonathan Chang wrote:
>     hey!!! this is what I stumbled upon whilst websurfing [Hangin' Binary,
> peeps] on Google for stuff on Chinese Pidgin English:
[snip]

Talking about Pidgin English... have you ever looked at Malaysian English
(also known as Manglish)? Or more specifically, Singaporean English (which
is a hybrid of Singaporean Hokkien with English seasoned with some Malay
influence). It's got lots of cultural references, inside-joke type
expressions, and even its own tonal accent. :-)

Example: (in)famous expression of mild annoyance:
        "Why you so like that one??"  (why are you always like that?!)
Pronounced with pitches high, low, high, low, middle, middle-long. The
first 5 syllables are pronounced with equal length, which lends it quite a
unique rhythm. Because of elision, it might be more appropriately
rendered:
        "Why you so li' det one??"

It's most humorous when they actually make an effort to be grammatically
correct (w.r.t. "proper" English) but pronounce it with a tonal/pitch
accent. Hmph, I dunno how to transcribe it here, you gotta hear it to
believe it! :-P


T