A Language Phenomenon :
Code Switching in Vietnamese –French Poetry
In bilinguals, code switching occurs when a word or a phrase from one language is replaced by a word or phrase from another language. As a rule, the grammatical rule of the first language must be followed. The following poem is a typical case of code switching in Vietnamese who frequently have to use another language besides Vietnamese (French, Chinese, and now English). Code-switching can be distinguished from other language contact phenomena such as borrowing, pidgins and creoles (French patois spoken in Haiti and Louisiana or similar languages). “While code-switching had previously been investigated as a matter of peripheral importance within the more narrow tradition of research on bilingualism, it has now moved into a more general focus of interest for sociolinguists, psycholinguists and general linguists.” (Wikipedia)
In Vietnam during French colonial times, before 1950, there was a related language phenomenon called ‘tiếng Tây bồi”, literally meaning ‘French spoken by the servants’ (“boys”), or “Francais petit nègre” in French. A good example is another poem, similar to this one in content, in which a woman said adieu to his son who went to France with her husband:
…”Au revoir mon cher petit
Maintenant fini maman”…
(Goodbye my dear little one
Now no more mommy).
Another example is the way a servant warned his master about a tiger’s attack:
“Monsieur, le chat, tres gros, lui manger vous, lui manger moi”
(“Sir, a cat, him eat you, him eat me”, following Vietnamese syntax : “Con mèo, to lắm, nó ăn ông, nó ăn tôi”)
The Scribner-Bantam English dictionary (1979) defines pidgin as “an auxiliary language developed chiefly for commercial purpose, when two or more people come into contact, based usually on one language, with a modified phonology and simplified morphology and on vocabulary and syntactic elements from the other languages.” In the case of Tiếng Tây Bồi (French pidgin), it was based on French with Vietnamese elements (syntactic element in the above examples) and used mostly between the uneducated servants (“boys”) and their French employers.
The following poem, circulated among the Vietnamese internet community nostalgic of its remote past, sounds very familiar but its author(s) remain(s) anonymous. Perhaps it was created a long time ago, early in the 20th century, by several contributors in the oral literature, during the French colonial period.
It sounds familiar because it describes a very familiar situation; a Vietnamese woman from Hue (Central Vietnam) who does not speak much French is trying to convey her complex but authentic feelings in a mixture of Vietnamese and French (stereotypic and classic situation similar to Pierre Loti’s Madame Chrysantheme, Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, or Miss Saigon).
So this poem is tentatively cited here as an example of code switching rather than of pidgin French. It is beyond the scope of this article to identity the exact genre of language contact phenomena in the following poem. Let’s just enjoy its lyricism and the originality of expression that cannot be duplicated in a single language, either Vietnamese or French. An attempt has been made however to translate it into standard Vietnamese, English for the English reader, followed by minor variations on the same style in “Vietenglish”.
Thơ Việt-Pháp
Tiễn l’Amant
J'écris vài chữ suivant
J'envois thăm hỏi amant đăng trình
Toute seule dòng lệ rung rinh
Cigogne phận thiếp một mình gian nan.
Depuis thiếp bén duyên chàng
Plaisir tính lại nồng nàn mấy khi
Mission chàng đã fini
Trách le ciel khéo bày chi lỡ làng
La cour mousse mọc lune tàn
Bonheur ai nỡ bẽ bàng thế ni
Lạnh lùng với chiếc chemise
L'automne trằn trọc au lit một mình
Mon coeur cảm thấy bất bình
Mes pleurs nó chảy thật tình khôn ngăn
Dù chàng đổ xuống l'argent
Rồi đây thiếp chẳng contente được nào
Ma vie rồi sẽ ra sao ?
Garçon một trẻ thiếp giao cho chàng.
Để chàng nuôi tại la France
Còn riêng thiếp ẵm về làng une fille
Thôi thôi chàng cứ parti
Đông Ba đợi thiếp Paris chờ chàng
Tác giả : Vô danh
Chuyển ngữ qua tiếng Việt "chuẩn":
TIỄN NGƯỜI YÊU
Thiếp viết mấy chữ sau đây,
Em gởi thăm hỏi tình nhân đăng trình,
Một thân dòng lệ rung rinh
Con cò phận thiếp một mình gian nan.
Từ khi thiếp bén duyên chàng
Niềm vui tính lại nồng nàn mấy khi.
Công vụ chàng đã thực thi,
Trách trời xanh khéo bày chi lỡ làng.
Sân nhà rêu mọc trăng tàn,
Hạnh phúc ai nỡ bẽ bàng thế ni.
Lạnh lùng với chiếc sơ mi,
Tiết thu trằn trọc giường khuê một mình,
Tim thiếp cảm thấy bất bình,
Nước mắt nó chảy thật tình khôn ngăn.
Dù chàng đổ xuống bạc chăng,
Rồi đây thiếp chẳng yên tâm được nào.
Đời thiếp rồi sẽ ra sao ?
Bé trai một trẻ thiếp giao cho chàng.
Để chàng nuôi tại la France
Còn riêng thiếp ẵm về làng gái cưng.
Thôi thôi chàng cứ ra đi,
Đông Ba đợi thiếp, Paris chờ chàng.
Thơ “Vietglish”:
Tiễn lover về Mỹ
I write vài chữ follow
I send thăm hỏi my love đăng trình
Alone dòng lệ rung rinh
A stork phận thiếp một mình gian nan,
Since when thiếp bén duyên chàng
Pleasure tỉnh lại nồng nàn mấy khi
Mission chàng đã finished
Trách Heaven khéo bày chi lỡ làng
The lawn grass mọc moon tàn
Happy ai nỡ bẽ bàng thế ni
Lạnh lùng với shirt you wear
In bed trằn trọc autumn một mình
My heart cảm thấy bất bình
My tears nó chảy thật tình khôn ngăn
Dù chàng đổ xuống money
Rồi đây thiếp chẳng happy được nào
My life rồi sẽ ra sao ?
Thằng boy một trẻ thiếp giao cho chàng.
Để chàng nuôi tại San Fran
Còn riêng thiếp ẵm về làng a girl
Thôi thôi chàng cứ go đi
Đông Ba đợi thiếp Cali chờ chàng
English Translations :
Adieu to my French lover
I am writing you the following
To send you on your way home
All alone, my tears are brimming
Like a stork I labor alone
From the days we were together
We can count intense moments of love
Now that your mission here is done
I blame Heaven for our unfulfilled love
In our courtyard, moss grows and the moon is setting
Alas, who is so cruel to destroy our happiness
I am cold, holding your old shirt
It’s autumn, I am tossing alone in my bed
My heart feels so upset
I cannot hold back my tears
Even if you pour money over me
I will never feel satisfied
What will become of my life
Our only boy I gave to you
So that you can raise him in France
As for me, I am taking our girl back to my village
Enough, just go ahead and leave
Dong Ba is waiting for me, Paris for you.
Adieu to my American lover
I am writing you the following
To send you on your way home
Left to myself, my tears are brimming
Like a stork I am laboring alone
From the days we were together
We can count intense moments of love
Now that your mission here is done
I blame Heaven for our unfulfilled love
In our courtyard, the moss grows and the moon is setting
Alas, who is so cruel to destroy our happiness
I am cold, holding your old shirt
It’s autumn, I am tossing alone in my bed
My heart feels so upset
I cannot hold back my tears
Even if you pour money over me
I will never feel satisfied
What will become of my life
Our only boy I gave to you
So that you can raise him in America
As for me, I am taking our girl back to my village
Enough, just go ahead and leave
Ben Thanh is waiting for me, San Fran for you.
Notes:
1) A good article about codes switching (Code-Switching
Roberto R. Heredia and Jeffrey M. Brown
Texas A & M International University) can be found at href="http://www.tamiu.edu/~rheredia/switch.htm"
2) Chợ Đông Ba: very famous market in the former imperial capital Huế.
3) Chợ Bến Thành : market in downtown Saigon
Hien V. Ho
(February 27, 2009
Updated January 14, 2014)