Social strata in the pidgin-using communities of the late 19th and the 20th century usually coincided with their ethnic structure: "Europeans" (Russian, Poles, Ukrainians, Germans) made up the dominant stratum; "locals" were servants, workmen, retailers (Chinese) or forest "savages" who served as guides (Nanai, Udihe).
The phonology of these "ethnolects" - European vs. Asian - distinctely differed (see Feature "Geographic variation: phonology). A. Jabłońska showed this in her article on the Chinese Russian Pidgin variety spread in Northern China (Manchuria).