This article examines the history of Chilapalapa, a colonial pidgin language, in Zambia. ‘Prickly proximity’ is used as a conceptual tool to understand the ways in which fraught yet intimate interracial relationships are managed by many of the white farming community of Zambia, who are at once privileged by their colonial past and bound by it. The article further discusses the history of the language before arguing that the patterns of linguistic learning among white Zambians, influenced by a frequent attempt to regulate emotional distance and hierarchy, created a situation in which Chilapalapa retained considerable prominence and power. This case study demonstrates the importance of language to ongoing processes of decolonisation, not only at the more widely researched national level, but also at the interpersonal one. This raises questions of inequality, belonging and race which are pertinent for other nations across southern Africa.

本文探讨了赞比亚殖民地洋泾浜语言奇拉帕拉帕语的历史。“棘手的接近”被用作一个概念工具，用来理解赞比亚许多白人农业社区如何处理令人担忧但又亲密的跨种族关系，他们既因殖民历史而享有特权，又受其束缚。文章进一步讨论了该语言的历史，然后指出赞比亚白人的语言学习模式受到频繁尝试调节情感距离和等级制度的影响，造成了奇拉帕拉帕保留了相当大的地位和权力的情况。本案例研究证明了语言对于正在进行的非殖民化进程的重要性，不仅在更广泛研究的国家层面，而且在人际层面。