Pidgin Versus Creole

Pidgin and Creole Languages

Originally thought of as incomplete, broken, corrupt, not worthy of serious attention. Pidgins still are marginal: in origin (makeshift, reduced in structure), in attitudes toward them (low prestige); in our knowledge of them.

Some quick definitions:

1. Pidgin language (origin in Engl. word `business'?) is nobody's native language; may arise when two speakers of different languages with no common language try to have a makeshift conversation. Lexicon usually comes from one language, structure often from the other. Because of colonialism, slavery etc. the prestige of Pidgin languages is very low. Many pidgins are `contact vernaculars', may only exist for one speech event.

2. Creole (orig. person of European descent born and raised in a tropical colony) is a language that was originally a pidgin but has become nativized, i.e. a community of speakers claims it as their first language. Next used to designate the language(s) of people of Caribbean and African descent in colonial and ex-colonial countries (Jamaica, Haiti, Mauritius, Réunion, Hawaii, Pitcairn, etc.)

3. Relexification The process of substituting new vocabulary for old. Pidgins may get relexified with new English vocabulary to replace the previous Portuguese vocabulary, etc.

Pidgins and creoles are primarily used in third world nations, created in response to changes in the political and social environment of the community they are spoken in. There are over one hundred pidgins and creoles spoken today. Most pidgins and creoles are based on European languages, primarily on English, Spanish and French.

Pidgins often serve as the means of communication between two language groups. For example, they are often used between immigrants and locals or missionaries and natives in order to be understood by each other without having to learn the language of the other group.

The language on which the majority of the lexicon is based is called the base (usually the European language). The language on which the grammatical structure is based is called the substrate. In a pidgin, gender and case as well as other elements of language are often dropped from the base European language. The phonology is extremely unstable and changes often. Characteristics of a pidgin vary tremendously from speaker to speaker. Anything can be said in pidgin that can be said in any other language, but at a great disadvantage, because the pidgin language lacks the building blocks provided in other native languages for successful communication. For example, articles, prepositions, auxiliary verbs, and subordinate clauses are often absent or sporadical in pidgin. Pidgin sentences are often little more than strings of nouns, verbs and adjectives. Although the substance of the idea gets across, many of the details and contextual information gets lost in the pidgin version.

Haitian creole was developed by the slaves imported to Haiti by the French for work on their large plantations. People were gathered from all parts of Africa and forced to work together for the French land owners. Because Africa is full of diverse language groups and dialects, these slaves didn't understand each other, and a pidgin was developed. Eventually, this pidgin grew to a creole and includes structure from African tribal languages and French today.

As with the Haitians, many times a pidgin develops over time in such a way that it becomes a creole. A creole has grammatical rules which are more uniform from speaker to speaker and resemble structural rules of other creoles. One could say that the transition from pidgin to creole is a natural process which usually occurs as generations pass and the need for an intercessory language persists.

Many theories have developed as to where pidgins and creoles originated. The monogenetic hypothesis states that pidgins and creoles are derived from a common ancestor language. Also known as the family tree model, it is rejected by many linguists today. Another idea called the polygenetic hypothesis states that pidgins and creoles each developed independently of each other, but in a parallel manner. This is the theory most commonly believed. It has been thought that because most creoles were invented in isolated places, it is likely that some common element of human capability is responsible for the linguistic similarities between creoles around the globe.