Pidgin

A pidgin[1][2][3] /ˈpɪdʒɪn/, or pidgin

language, is a grammatically limited
means of communication that develops
between two or more groups that do not
have a language in common: typically, a
simplified mixture of languages. It is most
commonly employed in situations such as
trade, or where both groups speak
languages different from the language of
the country in which they reside (but where
there is no common language between the
groups). Fundamentally, a pidgin is a
simplified means of linguistic
communication, as it is constructed
impromptu, or by convention, between
individuals or groups of people. A pidgin is
not the native language of any speech
community, but is instead learned as a
second language.[4][5]

A pidgin may be built from words, sounds,

or body language from a multitude of
languages as well as onomatopoeia. As
the lexicon of any pidgin will be limited to
core vocabulary, words with only a specific
meaning in lexifier language may acquire a
completely new additional meaning in the
pidgin in order to facilitate
communication.

Pidgins have historically been considered

a form of patois, unsophisticated
simplified versions of their lexifiers, and as
such usually have low prestige with
respect to other languages.[6] However, not
all simplified or "unsophisticated" forms of
a language are pidgins. Each pidgin has its
own norms of usage which must be
learned for proficiency in the pidgin.[7]

A pidgin differs from a creole, which is the

first language of a speech community of
native speakers that at one point arose
from a pidgin. Unlike pidgins, creoles have
fully developed vocabulary and patterned
grammar. Most linguists believe that a
creole develops through a process of
nativization of a pidgin when children of
acquired pidgin-speakers learn it and use it
as their native language.

Etymology
Pidgin derives from Chinese pronunciation
of the English word business, and all
attestations from the first half of the
nineteenth century given in the third
edition of the Oxford English Dictionary
mean 'business; an action, occupation, or
affair' (the earliest being from 1807). The
term pidgin English, first attested in 1855,
shows the term in transition to referring to
language, and by the 1860s the term
pidgin alone could refer to Pidgin English.
The term was coming to be used in the
more general linguistic sense represented
by this article by the 1870s.[8][9]

A popular folk-etymology for pidgin is

English pigeon, a bird sometimes used for
carrying brief written messages, especially
in times prior to modern
telecommunications.[10][11]
Terminology
The word pidgin, formerly also spelled
pigion,[9] used to refer originally to Chinese
Pidgin English, but was later generalized to
refer to any pidgin.[12] Pidgin may also be
used as the specific name for local pidgins
or creoles, in places where they are
spoken. For example, the name of the
creole language Tok Pisin derives from the
English words talk pidgin. Its speakers
usually refer to it simply as "pidgin" when
speaking English.[13][14] Likewise, Hawaiian
Creole English is commonly referred to by
its speakers as "Pidgin".
The term jargon has also been used to
refer to pidgins, and is found in the names
of some pidgins, such as Chinook Jargon.
In this context, linguists today use jargon
to denote a particularly rudimentary type
of pidgin;[15] however, this usage is rather
rare, and the term jargon most often refers
to the words particular to a given
profession.

Pidgins may start out as or become trade

languages, such as Tok Pisin. Trade
languages can eventually evolve into fully
developed languages in their own right
such as Swahili, distinct from the
languages they were originally influenced
by. Trade languages and pidgins can also
influence an established language's
vernacular, especially amongst people
who are directly involved in a trade where
that pidgin is commonly used, which can
alternatively result in a regional dialect
being developed.

Common traits
Pidgins are usually less morphologically
complex but more syntactically rigid than
other languages, usually have fewer
morphosyntactic irregularities than other
languages. Characteristics shared by most
pidgins:
Typologically most closely resemble
isolating languages
Uncomplicated clausal structure (e.g.,
no embedded clauses, etc.)
Reduction or elimination of syllable
codas
Reduction of consonant clusters or
breaking them with epenthesis
Elimination of aspiration or sound
changes
Monophthongization is common,
employment of as few basic vowels as
possible, such as [a, e, i, o, u]; no vowel
breaking, diphthongs and semivowels
Lack of morphophonemic variation
 Lack of tones, such as those found in
West African, Asian and many North
American Indigenous languages
Lack of grammatical tense; use of
separate words to indicate tense,
usually preceding the verb
Lack of conjugation or declension
Use of reduplication to represent plurals,
superlatives, and other parts of speech
that represent the concept being
increased

Development
The initial development of a pidgin usually
requires:
 prolonged, regular contact between the
different language communities
a need to communicate between them
an absence of (or absence of
widespread proficiency in) a widespread,
accessible interlanguage

Keith Whinnom (in Hymes (1971))

suggests that pidgins need three
languages to form, with one (the
superstrate) being clearly dominant over
the others.

Linguists sometimes posit that pidgins

can become creole languages when a
generation of children learn a pidgin as
their first language,[16] a process that
regularizes speaker-dependent variation in
grammar. Creoles can then replace the
existing mix of languages to become the
native language of a community (such as
the Chavacano language in the Philippines,
Krio in Sierra Leone, and Tok Pisin in
Papua New Guinea). However, not all
pidgins become creole languages; a pidgin
may die out before this phase would occur
(e.g. the Mediterranean Lingua Franca).

Other scholars, such as Salikoko Mufwene,

argue that pidgins and creoles arise
independently under different
circumstances, and that a pidgin need not
always precede a creole nor a creole
evolve from a pidgin. Pidgins, according to
Mufwene, emerged among trade colonies
among "users who preserved their native
vernaculars for their day-to-day
interactions". Creoles, meanwhile,
developed in settlement colonies in which
speakers of a European language, often
indentured servants whose language
would be far from the standard in the first
place, interacted extensively with non-
European slaves, absorbing certain words
and features from the slaves' non-
European native languages, resulting in a
heavily basilectalized version of the
original language. These servants and
slaves would come to use the creole as an
everyday vernacular, rather than merely in
situations in which contact with a speaker
of the superstrate was necessary.[17]

Examples
The following pidgins have Wikipedia
articles or sections in articles. Many of
these languages are commonly referred to
by their speakers as "Pidgin".

List of English-based pidgins

Algonquian–Basque pidgin
Arafundi-Enga Pidgin
Barikanchi Pidgin
Basque–Icelandic pidgin
Bimbashi Arabic
Broken Oghibbeway
Broken Slavey and Loucheux Jargon
Camtho
Duvle-Wano Pidgin
Eskimo Trade Jargon
Ewondo Populaire
Fanagalo (Pidgin Zulu)
Français Tirailleur
Haflong Hindi
Helsinki slang
International Sign
Inuktitut-English Pidgin
KiKAR (Swahili pidgin)
Kwoma-Manambu Pidgin
Kyakhta Russian–Chinese Pidgin
Kyowa-go and Xieheyu
Labrador Inuit Pidgin French
Maridi Arabic
Mediterranean Lingua Franca (Sabir)
Mekeo pidgins
Mobilian Jargon
Namibian Black German
Ndyuka-Tiriyó Pidgin
Nefamese
Nigerian Pidgin
Nootka Jargon
Pequeno Português
Pidgin Delaware
Pidgin Hawaiian
Pidgin Iha
Pidgin Ngarluma
Pidgin Onin
Pidgin Wolof
Russenorsk
Settler Swahili
Taimyr Pidgin Russian
Tây Bồi Pidgin French
Tok Pisin
Turku
West Greenlandic Pidgin
 Yokohama Pidgin Japanese

See also
Engrish
Spanglish
Camfranglais (Cameroon)
Hiri Motu
Konglish
Lingua franca
Mixed language
Macaronic language
Creole language

Notes
1. Muysken, Pieter; Smith, Norval (2008).
"The study of pidgin and creole languages"
(PDF). In Arends, Jacques; Muijsken, Pieter;
Smith, Norval. Pidgins and Creoles: An
Introduction. John Benjamins. pp. 3–14.
2. Özüorçun, Fatma (2014). "Language
varieties: Pidgins and creoles" (PDF).
3. Bickerton, Derek (1976). "Pidgin and
creole studies". Annual Review of
Anthropology. 5: 169–93.
doi:10.1146/annurev.an.05.100176.001125
. JSTOR 2949309 .
4. See Todd (1990:3)
5. See Thomason & Kaufman (1988:169)
6. Bakker (1994:27)
7. Bakker (1994:26)
8. "pidgin, n." OED Online, Oxford University
Press, January 2018,
www.oed.com/view/Entry/143533.
Accessed 23 January 2018.
9. Online Etymology Dictionary
10. Crystal, David (1997), "Pidgin", The
Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (2nd
ed.), Cambridge University Press
11. "pidgin, n." OED Online, Oxford University
Press, January 2018,
www.oed.com/view/Entry/143533.
Accessed 23 January 2018.
12. Bakker (1994:25)
13. Smith, Geoff P. Growing Up with Tok
Pisin: Contact, creolization, and change in
Papua New Guinea's national language.
London: Battlebridge. 2002. p. 4.
14. Thus the published court reports of
Papua New Guinea refer to Tok Pisin as
"Pidgin": see for example Schubert v The
State [1979] PNGLR 66.
15. Bakker, 1994 & pp25–26
16. For example: Campbell, John Howland;
Schopf, J. William, eds. (1994). Creative
Evolution . Life Science Series. Contributor:
University of California, Los Angeles. IGPP
Center for the Study of Evolution and the
Origin of Life. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
p. 81. ISBN 9780867209617. Retrieved
2014-04-20. “[...] the children of pidgin-
speaking parents face a big problem,
because pidgins are so rudimentary and
inexpressive, poorly capable of expressing
the nuances of a full range of human
emotions and life situations. The first
generation of such children spontaneously
develops a pidgin into a more complex
language termed a creole. [...] [T]he
evolution of a pidgin into a creole is
unconscious and spontaneous.”
17. "Salikoko Mufwene: "Pidgin and Creole
Languages" " . Humanities.uchicago.edu.
Retrieved 2010-04-24.

References
Bakker, Peter (1994), "Pidgins", in
Arends, Jacques; Muijsken, Pieter;
Smith, Norval, Pidgins and Creoles: An
Introduction, John Benjamins, pp. 26–39
Hymes, Dell (1971), Pidginization and
Creolization of Languages, Cambridge
University Press, ISBN 0-521-07833-4
McWhorter, John (2002), The Power of
Babel: The Natural History of Language,
Random House Group, ISBN 0-06-
052085-X
Sebba, Mark (1997), Contact Languages:
Pidgins and Creoles, MacMillan, ISBN 0-
333-63024-6
 Thomason, Sarah G.; Kaufman, Terrence
(1988), Language contact, creolization,
and genetic linguistics, Berkeley:
University of California Press, ISBN 0-
520-07893-4
Todd, Loreto (1990), Pidgins and Creoles,
Routledge, ISBN 0-415-05311-0

Further reading
Holm, John (2000), An Introduction to
Pidgins and Creoles, Cambridge
University Press

External links
Language Varieties Web Site
Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Pidgin&oldid=841300622"

Last edited 3 days ago by Deprecate…

Content is available under CC BY-SA 3.0 unless

otherwise noted.