Yokohama Creole: Difference between revisions

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{{infobox language

| name = Yokohama Creole

~~| image = File:みなとみらい - panoramio (1).jpg~~

~~|imagesize=300px~~

~~|imagecaption=Yokohama, where Yokohama Creole is native~~

| altname = Yokohama Pidgin

| nativename = Hama toak / Hama tawk / Hamm' tawk / Hama talk

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Despite its name, Yokohama Creole does not have its origins in [[w:Yokohama Pidgin English|Yokohama Pidgin English]] (YPE), a [[w:Pidgin|pidgin]] or pre-pidgin language of the 19th century, but instead developed independently in the 20th century during the [[w:Occupation of Japan|American occupation of Japan]]. During this occupation, many American soldiers of different races were stationed in Yokohama and Okinawa, two important bases to the Americans, and many eventually settled there and started families with the local Japanese; by 1960, this influx of Americans into Yokohama had so drastically changed the demographics of the city that a new culture and ethnicity reflecting this ethnic mixture, the Yokohama Creoles, emerged, with their own English-based creole language along with it. Although this initial creole language was said to be similar to [[w:Bamboo English|Bamboo English]], a further influx of low-income Japanese workers especially in the suburban areas of the city eventually led the language to become much more distinct from English or Japanese. The 1970 Treaty of San Francisco, which formally delineated the borders of the Yokohama International Territory, also further cemented the Yokohama Creole identity by making it harder for mainland Japanese to replace this new group through migration.

==Orthography==

Unlike [[Cheenah]], Yokohama Creole does not have a history of consistent orthography and is practically written however the speaker would like. Typically, this means that speakers who know English, such as those living near the coast, tend to gravitate towards an etymological English spelling, whereas more inland speakers tend to have greater variability in spelling or may even use [[w:Hiragana|hiragana]] or [[w:Katakana|katakana]] in some cases.

However, some people have put forward proposals for a standard Yokohama Creole orthography. One such solution, often called "''[[w:Peanuts (comic)|Peanuts]]'' spelling", "Snoopy spelling", "Charlie Brown spelling" or the "''Peanuts'' orthography" due to its use originating in an Internet user's translations of the American comic strip ''Peanuts'', is a phonemic orthography based on or at least inspired by the [[w:Cassidy/JLU orthography|Cassidy/JLU orthography]] used to write [[w:Jamaican Patois|Jamaican Patois]]. This orthography is particularly common among Yokohama Creoles who regularly use the internet, but is otherwise considered a fairly niche orthography and is not commonly used outside of online spaces.

Another orthography, proposed by Yokohama Creole linguist Genzaburo Jones in 1993 and often called the "[[w:Shinsengumi|Shinsengumi]] orthography" as a reference to Jones' first name being similar to that of famous Shinsengumi captain [[w:Inoue Genzaburō|Inoue Genzaburō]], is based on the Japanese [[w:Hepburn romanization|Hepburn romanisation]] and uses macrons to denote long vowels (āēīōū). A movement to designate it as the official orthography was particularly popular in the late 90s and early 2000s, but petered out by 2010 with the death of Jones and is now generally considered obsolete outside of the realm of [[w:Graffiti|graffiti artists]], who use the macrons as stylistic add-ons to their tags throughout Yokohama.

==Phonology==

===Vowels===

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 {{infobox language
 | name = Yokohama Creole
-| image = File:みなとみらい - panoramio (1).jpg
-|imagesize=300px
-|imagecaption=Yokohama, where Yokohama Creole is native
 | altname = Yokohama Pidgin
 | nativename = Hama toak / Hama tawk / Hamm' tawk / Hama talk
@@ Line 20: / Line 17: @@
 Despite its name, Yokohama Creole does not have its origins in [[w:Yokohama Pidgin English|Yokohama Pidgin English]] (YPE), a [[w:Pidgin|pidgin]] or pre-pidgin language of the 19th century, but instead developed independently in the 20th century during the [[w:Occupation of Japan|American occupation of Japan]]. During this occupation, many American soldiers of different races were stationed in Yokohama and Okinawa, two important bases to the Americans, and many eventually settled there and started families with the local Japanese; by 1960, this influx of Americans into Yokohama had so drastically changed the demographics of the city that a new culture and ethnicity reflecting this ethnic mixture, the Yokohama Creoles, emerged, with their own English-based creole language along with it. Although this initial creole language was said to be similar to [[w:Bamboo English|Bamboo English]], a further influx of low-income Japanese workers especially in the suburban areas of the city eventually led the language to become much more distinct from English or Japanese. The 1970 Treaty of San Francisco, which formally delineated the borders of the Yokohama International Territory, also further cemented the Yokohama Creole identity by making it harder for mainland Japanese to replace this new group through migration.
+==Orthography==
+Unlike [[Cheenah]], Yokohama Creole does not have a history of consistent orthography and is practically written however the speaker would like. Typically, this means that speakers who know English, such as those living near the coast, tend to gravitate towards an etymological English spelling, whereas more inland speakers tend to have greater variability in spelling or may even use [[w:Hiragana|hiragana]] or [[w:Katakana|katakana]] in some cases.
+However, some people have put forward proposals for a standard Yokohama Creole orthography. One such solution, often called "''[[w:Peanuts (comic)|Peanuts]]'' spelling", "Snoopy spelling", "Charlie Brown spelling" or the "''Peanuts'' orthography" due to its use originating in an Internet user's translations of the American comic strip ''Peanuts'', is a phonemic orthography based on or at least inspired by the [[w:Cassidy/JLU orthography|Cassidy/JLU orthography]] used to write [[w:Jamaican Patois|Jamaican Patois]]. This orthography is particularly common among Yokohama Creoles who regularly use the internet, but is otherwise considered a fairly niche orthography and is not commonly used outside of online spaces.
+Another orthography, proposed by Yokohama Creole linguist Genzaburo Jones in 1993 and often called the "[[w:Shinsengumi|Shinsengumi]] orthography" as a reference to Jones' first name being similar to that of famous Shinsengumi captain [[w:Inoue Genzaburō|Inoue Genzaburō]], is based on the Japanese [[w:Hepburn romanization|Hepburn romanisation]] and uses macrons to denote long vowels (āēīōū). A movement to designate it as the official orthography was particularly popular in the late 90s and early 2000s, but petered out by 2010 with the death of Jones and is now generally considered obsolete outside of the realm of [[w:Graffiti|graffiti artists]], who use the macrons as stylistic add-ons to their tags throughout Yokohama.
 ==Phonology==
 ===Vowels===