Though there has never been a great Japanese presence in Australia in terms of numbers, the Japanese have still had an inlfuence on the land Down Under. It’s fairly well-known that even from the 19th century the Japanese were active mainly as pearl luggers in Broome, Western Australia, but what’s less talked about is how Japanese contributed to the creation of an Australian language.
真珠取りが最も盛んとなった19世紀末から20世紀初期のころ、日本人をはじめアジア諸国からブルーム市にやってきた。
The Japanese were among people from many Asian coutnries to head to Broome to work in the pearl industry in its heyday from the late-19th to early 20th centuries.
そして、現地の白人と先住民を合わせて使う言葉が多数あり、コミュニケーションができるづらい状態であった。
But with people from so many countries mixing with the European and Indigenous Australians, communication was very difficult.
真珠取りの中では共通の言葉はオーストラリア全国で主に使われた英語ではなくて、そこで生まれたのがブルーム真珠取りピジン言語(Broome Pearling Lugger Pidgin)だった。
The common language among the various nationalities of those working within the pearl industry was Broome Pearling Lugger Pidgin.
同言語は、英語・マレー語・先住民語を中心に名詞と動詞に構成され、日本語が助詞となった。同言語では質問を問うと、日本語と同じく「〇〇か？」と聞き出したらしい。
Broome Pearling Lugger Pidgin used mainly English, Malay and Indigenous Australian languages, but Japanese provided the particles. For instance, asking a question in Broome Pearling Lugger Pidgin involved ending a sentence with the particle “ka,” a trait it derived from the identical practice in the Japanese language.
現在、ブルーム真珠取りピジン言語がほぼ死語となっているらしいが、真珠取りの先住民アジア系の後葉若者を中心にアイデンティティの象徴として使う場合もあると言う。
Broome Pearling Lugger Pidgin is now a dead language. However, the descendants of Asian-Australians who formed the backbone of the pearling industry in Broome now apparently use the pidgin at times as a symbol of their identity.
日本・日本語・日本人が思わずな所にオーストラリアの歴史と文化に貢献しているよね。
Japan and the Japanese have contributed to Australian history and culture in unexpected ways.
