"Suzette Haden Elgin - We Have Always Spoken Panglish" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elgin Suzette Haden)

We Have Always Spoken Panglish


We Have Always Spoken Panglish

by Suzette Haden Elgin

"Oh ha, Alyssa! You look like a flower blooming; you move over the land like a white sailboat over the
sea; sweet fragrant grass springs up under your feet as you pass; you bring radiant light with you!"

"Oh ha, Bru," I said to him. "Oh ha, Fadrien," I said to his wife. And that was all I said. It was hard
enough to have to listen to the Yegerrian expats' endless compliments-of-greeting with a straight face; I
only tried to produce them myself when I was meeting a Yegerrian for the first time and in my official
capacity. I had memorized one relatively brief example for that purpose: "You bring pleasant images to
my mind; you distract me from my cares." I used it the way we've always used "It's a pleasure to meet
you" in Panglish, and with an equal lack of commitment to honesty.

To be fair, the compliments didn't sound quite so bad when they were spoken in the Yegerrians' native
language. In Beydini they had to rhyme, and that was at least pleasant for the ear. But in Panglish? What
they remind me of most strongly is the flowery compliments ancient French used for closing personal
letters, all about thousands of warm embraces and thousands of faithful vows and pretty little cabbages.
They're a nuisance and a waste of time, but no one has had any luck convincing the Yegerrians to leave
them out when they're speaking Panglish.

The Beydini language doesn't deserve U.S. Corps of Linguists fieldwork; there's no need for a detailed
study of yet one more run-of-the-mill humanoid subject/verb/object language. We can all safely assume
that USCOL's interest is linked not to linguistic theory but to the current administration's political
agenda. But I'm not complainingтАФnot when I have a luxury posting like this one. Seagarden, on the
planet Estrada-Blair, is every linguist's dream assignment. (Well, every lazy linguist's dream
assignment!) Seagarden is an elegant modern city, right on an ocean very much like Earth's
Mediterranean Sea, but with pleasanter weather. Lovely restaurants and museums and shops and parks тАж
broad streets lined with beautiful homes in the full range of galactic styles from Ancient Classical to
Pseudo-Stochastic тАж Who could complain? If I'd been posted to the planet Yegerry, way out behind the
end of nowhere, I would have complained nonstop. But USCOL isn't about to spend the money that
would cost, not when they can so much more cheaply send me here to the expat district on Estrada-Blair.
My only problem has been how to do my fieldwork with the Yegerrians slowly enough to extend my stay
in this wonderful place, but not so slowly that I make them suspicious back in Washington. I've had a
delightful two weeks, and I intend to keep my head down and drag this assignment out for just as long as
I can.

This evening, Bru and Fadrien were taking me out to dinner. It would be my first opportunity to see the
vast slum called Benedict's Gate, behind the high wall that separates it from the rest of Seagarden. I saw
Benedict's Gate as I flew in, of course, just before landing; it seemed to go on forever, and I'm told that in


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 We Have Always Spoken Panglish

fact it covers almost ten square miles. It's a rectangle, bounded on two sides by high white cliffs, on a
third by the ocean, and on the other by the boundary wall. The people who live there look, physically,