PIDGINS AND CREOLES

Pidgins and Creoles

Another result of language contact is the development of distinct varieties of language.

What is Pidginization?

It is a process that sometimes takes place when two languages come into contact and, as a result, there is a process of simplification or hybridization.

Why does this process occur?

Develops as a means of communication among people who do not have a common language

i.e., the language is only used for a specific purpose such as trade.

Pidgins and Creoles

Often, the words from one language are adopted while using the syntactic ordering of the other language but, as a rule the grammatical system is simplified as well as other complex linguistic features.

Pidgins and Creoles

The formation of pidgins was characteristic in the 16th and 17th centuries when European colonial powers spread all over the world and new languages, which were lexically related to the language of the colonizer emerged.

Pidgins and Creoles

These contact languages were initially used for functional purposes in specific situations and contexts and, therefore , they were not the native language of anyone and speakers continued to use their languages in their own speech communities.

Pidgins and Creoles

Pidgins often undergo several geographical and sociolinguistic contexts.

e.g. Melanesian pidgin English arose as a shipboard lingua franca, later it was used as a plantation language and it finally came to be a language for inter-ethnic city communication (Richford & McWhorter, 1997).

Pidgins and Creoles

Some instances of pidgins

Most pidgins and creoles are based on an European language, and the most common and widespread ones are based on one of the following languages: English, French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, or German.

Pidgins and Creoles

Pidgins tend to share a number of general characteristics.

a. Almost complete lack of inflection in nouns, pronouns, verbs and adjectives.

b. Nouns are unmarked for number or gender.

c. Verbs lack tense markers.

d. There is no distinction for case in personal pronouns, so l can stand for me, and they for them.

Pidgins and Creoles

e. Syntactically, the absence of clausal structures is quite common.

f. There is often no distinction between long and short vowels (e.g., ship and sheep would be pronounced in the same way), a common resource introduced in these languages is 'reduplication'.

Pidgins and Creoles

e.g., in Tok Pisin sip means 'ship' and sipsip means 'sheep', and pis means 'peace' while pispis has the meaning of 'urinate'.

Another common usage of reduplication is to intensify the meaning of a word, for instance, cry means 'cry whereas crycry means 'cry continually', or talk meaning'talk' and talktalk meaning 'chatter'.

Pidgins and Creoles

General chatacteristics:

1. From a phonological point of view, HCE is rather simple it avoids phonological features which are difficult to pronounce in any of the languages in contact (English, Hawaiian and many others). The vocalic system was simplified and fricatives tend to be avoided:

E.g.: Bo da dem (both of them)

Braddah (brother)

Hawaiian Creole English

2. Vocabulary is derived to a large extent from the socially dominant group. English-based pidgins usually have about 90% of words coming from English (the lexifier language) Some of the HCE words come directly from English (A) and some others have been adapted or simplified (B), but largely recognizable:

Hawaiian Creole English

A B

Boy Den (then)

Fish Lata (later)

Guy Neva (never)

Stuff Togedda (together)

Stay Wot? (What?)

Hawaiian Creole English

Many words are polisemous:

E.g.:

- Try can be used as a main verb 'try', but also as a verb auxiliary with the meaning of 'please'

- Inside means 'inside', 'soul' and 'heart''

Hawaiian Creole English

Almost complete lack of inflection in nouns, pronouns, verbs and adjectives. Nouns are unmarked for number and gender:

E.g.:'Dis da language fo mos peopo dat stay live inside Hawai'i'

'Him was real tight wit his brudda"

'You go five mile sout'.

Hawaiian Creole English

Tense and aspect are normally indicated with a marker'

Past tense is expressed by placing preverbal preterite auxiliaries wen', 'bin' and 'hd'before the verb:

E.g.: Shi wen Pein da grin haus

You bin say go up on roof

Hawaiian Creole English

Future events are marked by, go, gon, gona, or goin, before the verb:

E.g.: 'I gon it fish'.

Progressive aspect by: a) inserting 'ste' (stay) before the verb in the infinitive; b) using the -ing form of the verb; and, c) using both forms altogether:

E.g.: a) 'Shi ste rait da leta'.

b) 'Dey pleing futbawl'.

c) 'Naue ste iting da kek'.

Hawaiian Creole English

Auxiliaries are nonexistent and negation is expressed by placing no',nat' or 'neva' before the verb:

E,.g.: 'Shi neva si daet muvi'.

'No can' (cannot, it's not possible)

'No mo'(there isn't any)

Hawaiian Creole English

Pidgin' and 'creole' are technical terms used by linguists but not necessarily by speakers of these languages. Instances of creoles are:

Anglo-Romani (a creolization of Romani in England)

Asmara Pidgin (Italian-based, it is spoken in parts of Ethiopia)

Berbice Creole Dutch

Pidgin or Creole

Chabacano o Zamboangueo. (Spanish_based)

Haitian Creole

Hawaiian Creole English

Jamaican Patwa

Tok Pisin

Pidgins and Creoles

Creoles

Characteristics of Creoles

A creole is a pidgin which:

is learnt by children as their 1st language

is used in a wide range of domains

is used for a variety of functions

has expanded structure and vocabulary

not appreciated by outsiders but has positive attitudes by its speakers

Pidgins and Creoles

Hymes

pidgins and creoles were ignored to a great extent by linguists as marginal languages, instead of being considered creative adaptations, have been regarded as degenerations and, therefore, not as systems in their own right'

Arises when one creole has extended contact with a standard language in a specific society, and that standard brings a considerable influence to bear on the creole.

Speakers start to develop the creole taking the standard as a model and a continuum is created with the standard as a model at the top and the creole as a model at the bottom.

Decreolization

This process can be clearly perceived nowadays in places like Barbados, Cameroon, India, Nigeria and Papua New Guinea, among others.

In such a situation the different forms of the creole become socially stratified.

Decreolization

Decreolization

Acrolect

Basilect

Mesolect

Between these two poles there can appear a whole range of varieties or mesolects which determine not only social stratification but also alleged identities among their speakers.

Wardhaugh (2002:80) shows the following stages in the continuum to say 'I told him in Guyanese:

Decreolization

The varieties 1 to 3 reflect the acrolect typical of middle-class usage, varieties 4 to 7 display mesolect forms characteristic in lower middle and urban working classes. The pronunciation in stage 8 is closer to the basilect and shows a rural working class, as well as item 9 which is used by old and illiterate rural laborers.

Decreolization