PIDGINS

What is a pidgin and how do they develop?

It is a language that has no native speakers, so is no ones native language. They develop as
a means of communication between people who do not have a common language or when
two groups with different languages are communicating in a situation where there is also a
third dominant language. However, all the involved languages may contribute to the
sounds, vocabulary, and grammatical features of this new variety (the pidgin).
How are pidgins used?
Those who use them speak other languages, so its an addition to their linguistic repertoire
used for a specific purpose. For example, in terms of dimensions, theyre used for
referential rather than affective functions (e.g. buying, selling social distinctions,
politeness, etc.).
What is the structure of a pidgin language?
Pidgins feature a simplified structure, a small vocabulary, a simplified pronunciation, and
no inflections (no number, tense, gender, etc.). In other words, they tend to reduce the
grammatical signals to the minimum, thus making them easier to learn and to use for the
speaker, but harder for the listener and the learner.
What is a superstate and a substrate regarding pidgin language development?
The superstate or lexifier is the language that supplies most of the vocabulary to the pidgin.
Moreover, the balance of contribution leans more towards the prestigious variety rather
than the vernacular oneif both happen to coexist within the same context. On the other
hand, a substrate is the one that influences the grammatical structure of the pidgin.
How do native speakers of a language see pidgins?
Pidgins do not have a high status or prestige. They are often seen as ridiculous and given
negative labels to the extent that many speakers of a given language consider pidgins to be
a debased form of their own language. Plus, because of their simplified nature many
assume they can guess the meanings, but this can lead to misunderstandings.
Do pidgins emerge to stay forever?
They often have a short life. Three scenarios are possible: a) if they develop for a restricted
function, they disappear when the function disappears; b) if contact between two groups of
people grows this leads to one group learning the others language; c) sometimes pidgins go
on to develop into languages or creoles.
CREOLES
What is a creole and how do they differ from pidgins?
It is a pidgin that has acquired native speakers, so they hold a status as a groups first
language and are learned by children as their first language and used in a wide range of
domains. In other words, a creole is a pidgin that has expanded in structure and vocabulary.
They differ form creoles in their range of functions, in their structure, and in some cases in
the attitudes expressed towards them. For example, pidgins do not have inflections
(number, tense, gender, etc.) but creoles develop ways of systematically signaling such
inflections.
How do creoles originate and why?
Through creolisation, a process through which the structure of words in a pidgin is
regularized with related meanings as the demands made on the language by the speakers
increase, so, it is the need to express more complex meanings which motivates structural
changes, and the functional demands which lead to linguistic elaboration. Thats why

creoles can develop unique forms (from the vernacular substrate) that are not present in the
prestigious variety together with more straightforward rules for word formation. For
example, in multilingual speech communities, parents may use a pidgin so much during the
day (in the market, at church, in offices, on public transport) that it becomes normal for
them to use it at home too so children are likely to acquire it as their first language and then
it would develop into a creole.
How are creoles used and why are they important?
They can be used for all the functions of any language (politics, administration, original
literature, education, etc.) to the extent that many of them have become accepted standard
and even national or official languages. They can be so developed that there can be no
evidence in their linguistic structure of their pidgin origins (e.g. Afrikaans). This is
important as it suggests that the process of pidginization and creolization may be universal
processes that reveal a great deal about the origins of language and the ways in which
languages develop.
How are creoles seen in comparison to pidgins and what happens to them?
Many outsiders hold negative attitudes to creoles so as to pidgins, but this might not be the
case for those who speak the language. They have status and prestige, as they are a useful
means of communication, a signal of the speakers community status, or a language of
solidarity.
However, regarding what ultimately happens to a creole there is a range of possibilities.
The first scenario is that in societies with rigid social divisions, the creole remains as a
stable L variety alongside an official H variety (e.g. in Haiti: Haitian Creole LV and French
HV). The second scenario, if the creole is used side-by-side with the standard variety, it
may develop towards the latter and change in its direction. This is called decreolization.
The third scenario, there may exist a continuum of varieties between the creole and the
standard language. The least alike variety to the standard language is called a basilect, the
most alike, an acrolect, and those varieties between these two extremes are described as
mesolects. A fourth and least-likely scenario is that the creole may be standardized and
adopted as an official language (e.g. Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea) or become a national
language (e.g. Bahasa Indonesia in Indonesia, which developed from pidgin Malay).
Conclusion
[on Pidgins] Even if some argue that all pidgins originate from a Portuguese-pidgin from
the fifteenth century and other say that all pidgins develop individually, what is true is that
they share two important features. Firstly, they all arise for the same kind of basic functions
(trade, barter, and other essentially transactional and referentially oriented functions).
Secondly, these functions are expressed through structural processes which seem universal
to all situations of language development, i.e. simplification and reduction of redundant
features.