Pidgin and creole description

2.  A pidgin is a form of language that has typically evolved using simplified grammar and
structures from an external language combined with features of local languages. It is a
restricted language that arises for communication between two social groups of which
one is in a more dominant position than the other. It is a language which has no
native speakers. Pidgin develops as a means of communication between people who
don't have a common language.
 Historically it arouse in colonial situations where the representatives of the particular
colonial power, officials, tradesmen, sailors, etc. came in contact with natives.
 It is no one’s first language but is a contact language. That is, it is the product of a
multilingual situation in which those who wish to communicate must find or improvise a
simple language system. Very often too, that situation is one in which there is an
imbalance of power among the languages as the speakers of one language dominate
the speakers of the other languages economically and socially. A highly codified
language often accompanies that dominant position.
 A pidgin is therefore sometimes regarded as a ‘reduced’ variety of a ‘normal’
language, i.e., one of the aforementioned dominant languages, with simplification of
the grammar and vocabulary of that language, considerable phonological variation,
and an admixture of local vocabulary to meet the special needs of the contact group.

3.  R.L. Trask and Peter Stockwell says, "A pidgin is nobody's mother tongue,
and it is not a real language at all: it has no elaborate grammar, it is very
limited in what it can convey, and different people speak it differently. Still,
for simple purposes, it does work, and often everybody in the area learns
to handle it.” ( Language and Linguistics: The Key Concepts, 2007).
 The process of pidginization probably requires a situation that involves at
least three languages (Whinnom, 1971), one of which is clearly dominant
over the others. If only two languages are involved, there is likely to be a
direct struggle for dominance, as between English and French in England
after 1066, a struggle won in that case by the socially inferior language but
only after more than two centuries of co-existence. When three or more
languages are involved and one is dominant, the speakers of the two or
more that are inferior appear to play a critical role in the development of a
pidgin. They must not only speak to those who are in the dominant
position, but they must also speak to each other.

4.  For example, Pidgin Chinese English was used mainly by speakers of
different Chinese languages, and Tok Pisin is today used as a unifying
language among speakers of many different languages in Papua New
Guinea.
 For a pidgin language which is used only for trade, a few hundred words is
sufficient. But, as in fully developed languages, one form may do a great
deal of work. In Tok Pisin ‘pas’ can mean a pass, a letter, a permit, ahead,
fast, firmly, to be dense, crowded or tight, to be blocked or shut. In
Cameroon Pidgin English, the word water can mean lake, river, spring, tear
or water. This linguistic feature (polysemy) is particularly characteristic of
the vocabulary of pidgin language.

5.  If we look at the actual processes involved in pidginization and
creolization, we can see that they are almost diametrically
opposed to each other in certain important ways. Pidginization
generally involves some kind of ‘simplification’ of a language, e.g.,
reduction in morphology (word structure) and syntax (grammatical
structure), tolerance of considerable phonological variation
(pronunciation), reduction in the number of functions for which the
pidgin is used (e.g., you usually do not attempt to write novels in a
pidgin), and extensive borrowing of words from local mother
tongues.

6.  Generally have limited vocabulary
 Simplified grammar
 Use many onomatopoeias (words that sound like the thing
they are referring to, e.g., 'bang', 'slap', 'woosh', 'sizzle')
 Consonant clusters often get simplified (e.g., instead of
pronouncing all the sounds in the phrase 'best player', the
pidgin pronunciation might be 'bes player' where the /t/ is
dropped from the '-st' consonant cluster)
 Not typically a native language of any country, but spoken
as a second language
 Commonly seen as being low prestige language varieties
 Simplified sentence and phrase structures
 Linguistic characteristics such as gender and number
(singular and plural forms) are often non-existent.

7.  When a pidgin becomes the language of newly-born generations
as a mother-tongue or first language, and acquires additional
vocabulary and grammatical structures to serve their various
necessary communicative needs, it becomes a Creole.
 "A creole comes into being when children are born into a pidgin-
speaking environment and acquire the pidgin as a first language.
What we know about the history and origins of existing creoles
suggests that this may happen at any stage in the development of
a pidgin." (Mark Sebba, Contact Languages: Pidgins and Creoles.
Palgrave Macmillan, 1997)
 In contrast to a pidgin, a creole is often defined as a pidgin that
has become the first language of a new generation of speakers. As
Aitchison (1994, p. 3177) says, ‘creoles arise when pidgins
become mother tongues.’ A creole, therefore, is a ‘normal’
language in almost every sense.

8.  Holmes (1992, p. 95) says that ‘A creole is a pidgin which has
expanded in structure and vocabulary to express the range of
meanings and serve the range of functions required of a first
language.’ In practice it is not always easy to say whether we have
a pidgin rather than a creole.
 Tok Pisin and some of the West African pidgins such as Nigerian
Pidgin English probably exist as both pidgins and creoles. They
have speakers who use them only as second languages in an
expanded form and also speakers for whom they are first
languages.

9.  Fully developed grammar.
 Extensive vocabulary.
 Full, native languages that have derived from pidgins
 Most commonly viewed as vernacular languages,
although in countries where they are widely used, they
are viewed as having higher prestige.
 Most creoles are born of contact between European
and native languages, and creoles might include some
words and structures from European languages (such
as French and Portuguese). That said, not all creoles
are based on European languages. For example,
Betawi is a Malay-based creole with no European
influence.

10. PIDGIN
• Pidgins are learned as a second language in
order to facilitate communication.
• A language that develops as a means of
communication between two or more groups that
do not have a common language.
• Language is used as means of communication
between different groups.
• The words and rules are simplified.
• Limited vocabulary.
• Not fully developed.
• No native speaker.
• Simple structure.
• No formal grammar.
• Hybrid language.
• No high status and prestige.
• Business and trading purpose.
• Acts as a bridge.
CREOLE
• Creoles are spoken as first languages.
• A creole is a type of natural language that
developed historically from a pidgin and came
into existence and then achieved the prestige of
mother tongue.
• Language is acquired by children as a native
language.
• The words and rules are expanded.
• Vast vocabulary.
• Developed in full form.
• It has native speaker.
• Proper structure.
• Proper grammar.
• Fully developed pidgin.
• It has proper function.