EL 101: Language, Culture and Society

Preliminary Term

LANGUAGE BIRTH
The concept of “language birth” is in fact a misleading term of some sort. The birth involves no
pregnancy and delivery stages. Unlike in the case of organisms, but as in the case of species,
language birth cannot be predicted.
Think of a language like you would a species of animal or plant. There was no first human, or
mouse, or giraffe, it has been a constant process of evolution. What we can see, however, is that
at given intervals, there is a noticeable difference between how these creatures acted and looked,
and when others broke off from the "main" line. That is also in language. It really is not born, but
it evolve form the older versions, which changes are not recognized from day to day.

PIDGINS and CREOLES

A pidgin arises when speakers of two different languages encounter one another and have a need
for limited communications. The pidgin incorporates words from both source languages and has a
simplified grammatical structure, just enough to allow some communication. A pidgin is never a
person's native language.
Holm (1988, pp. 4–5) defines a pidgin as: a reduced language that results from extended contact
between groups of people with no language in common; it evolves when they need some means
of verbal communication, perhaps for trade, but no group learns the native language of any other
group for social reasons that may include lack of trust or of close contact.
When different languages get mixed “A pidgin” is formed. But the point is that Pidgin is only
spoken as secondary language mostly for inter-ethnic communication. A pidgin evolves among
adult native speakers of different languages. It isn't spoken as a native tongue and it isn’t a fully
developed language because it is only a second language. When that pidgin gets adopted as a
mother tongue or as a first language and is fully developed language it becomes a Creole. Or when
new generations of speakers learn this as their first language, it is now a creole.
Creole is a fully-functional language of its own which includes elements of its parent languages.
It has a complete grammar of its own and the full expressive power that affords. A Creole language
develops among the children of pidgin speakers. A Creole is a native language to its speakers
(although they may also speak a mother language in addition). Creoles are mixed languages, which
can form either through mixing, or by the expansion of a pidgin.
However, pidgins do not always become creoles. In fact, we might consider (at the extreme) all
instances of low proficiency second language learning to be a sort of promising pidgin. But in most
cases those learners either become (non-native) speakers of the language, or they stop using the
language and the pidgin disappears.

Differences between Pidgins and Creoles:

1. Pidgin is a linguistic communication that comprised of components of two or more
other languages and is used for communication among people. It can also be called
business language. It is not a first language. Whereas, creole is a language that was at
first a pidgin but has “transformed” and become a first language.

2. Structural difference: Creole languages have the “Subject Verb Object” word order
whereas Pidgin can have any possible order.

3. One important difference between Pidgins and Creoles is that pidgins do not have first
language speakers while creoles do. However, this is not easy to make out because
there are more and more extended pidgins beginning to acquire native speakers.
Extended pidgins refer to when a pidgin becomes a creole.

Page 1 of 6
EL 101: Language, Culture and Society
Developmental Stages of Pidgins and Creoles
Pidgins are generally characterised as restricted (used only for a certain functions) and extended
(used for all areas of life). In the life-cycle of pidgins one can note that they start off as restricted
language varieties used in marginal contact situations for minimal trading purposes. From this a
pidgin may develop into an extended type. The latter is characterised by the extension of the social
functions of a pidgin. This extended pidgin can be passed down from generation to generation as
non-native lingua francas. Lingua franca is language used for communication between speakers
of different native languages.
The process of pidginisation is very common in any situation in which a lingua franca is called
for. Normally any such variety dies out very quickly once the situation which gave rise to it no
longer obtains. If the situation does continue to exist then the pidgin is likely to survive. The steps
from restricted to extended pidgin and further to creole are only taken by very few languages,
particularly the major restructuring typical of pidgins is not normally carried out by any but a very
small number of input varieties. Once the pidgin is extended it can be a creole as it is passed down
to generation and becomes the native language of that generation.
Creolization is the process of borrowing ideas and commodities between cultures. As the world
becomes increasingly globalized, this exchange has become more evident. Through language, new
aspects of culture can blend in with older ones, making communication with people of different
regions or generations an interesting task. Cultures can mix to form new languages, new dialects,
or even new slang terms. Culture, along with language, is a fluid entity, constantly changing to
adapt new ideas and norms.
Creoles may arise in one of two basic situations.
One is where speakers of pidgins are put in a situation in which they cannot use their respective
mother tongues. This has arisen in the course of the slave trade (in the Caribbean and the southern
United States) where speakers were deliberately kept in separate groups to avoid their plotting
rebellion. They were then forced to maintain the pidgin which they had developed up to then and
pass it on to future generations as their mother tongue thus forming the transition from a pidgin to
a creole.
A second situation is where a pidgin is regarded by a social group as a higher language variety and
deliberately cultivated. The outcome of this kind of situation is that the children of such speakers
which use pidgin for prestige reasons may end up using the pidgin as a first language, thus
rendering it a creole with the attendant relinquishing of the native language of their parents and
the expansion of all linguistic levels for the new creole to act as a fully-fledged language.
Examples:
1. Hybrid languages such “Spanglish” and “Taglish” incorporate creolization into their
words.

2. Bislama Language in Vanuatu

This is also a mixed of English Language.

In English:
This house belongs to me.

In Bislama:
Hem ya haos blong mi. (if directly translated into English = Him here house belong me.)

In English:
I have already been to town.

In Bislama:
Mi bin long taon finis. (direct translation = Me been long town finish.)

3. Jamaican Language

Page 2 of 6
EL 101: Language, Culture and Society
 Because Jamaica had been trading to other country such as America and Africa from the
very beginning, the traders used pidgins to communicate, but as the time went by the
generations adopted the pidgin as their native language which made it a creole. Jamaican
creole is mixed with English and African.

This sentence is written in Jamaican creole:

Unu cya lissen to we mia say!

In English is:
Can’t you listen to what I'm saying!

4. Chavacano or Chabacano is the variety spoken in Zamboanga City, located in the southern
Philippine island group of Mindanao, has the highest concentration of speakers.
Chavacano is the only Spanish-based dialect creole in Asia.

LANGUAGE CHANGE and LANGUAGE SHIFT

The change of language has to do with its movement throughout similar regions, due to things
such as trading, farming, war and migration from place to place. One obvious example of language
changing over a geographic location is dialects. Different words and expressions may mean one
thing in a particular dialect, and something completely different in another.
Language shift, also known as language transfer or language replacement or language
assimilation, is the process whereby a community of speakers of a language shifts to speaking a
completely different language, usually over an extended period of time.
Language shift most commonly occurs when speakers switch to a language associated with social
or economic power or spoken more widely, the ultimate result being language death.
In the Philippines, Spanish-speaking families have gradually switched over to English since the
end of World War II until the former eventually ceased to be a practical everyday language in the
country. Another example would be the gradual death of the Kinaray-a language of Panay as many
native speakers especially in the province of Iloilo are switching to Hiligaynon or mixing the two
languages together. Kinaray-a was once spoken in the towns outside the vicinity of Iloílo City,
while Hiligaynon was limited to only the eastern coasts and the city proper. However, due to media
and other factors such as urbanization, many younger speakers have switched from Kinaray-a to
Hiligaynon.
As time goes by, Kinaray-a has disappeared in many areas it was once spoken especially in the
island of Mindoro and only remnants of the past remain as Tagalog has become the standard and
dominantly recognised official language of most areas.
The language that is being lost generally undergoes changes as speakers make their language more
similar to the language that they are shifting to. This process of change has been described by
Appel (1983) in two categories, though they are not mutually exclusive. Often speakers replace
elements of their own language with something from the language they are shifting toward. Also,
if their heritage language has an element that the new language does not, speakers may drop it.

ENDANGERED LANGUAGE
An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use, generally because it has
few surviving speakers. A language may be endangered in one area but show signs of revitalisation
in another.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines five
levels of language endangerment between "safe" (not endangered) and "extinct":
 Vulnerable - "most children speak the language, but it may be restricted to certain domains
(e.g., home)"
 Definitely endangered - "children no longer learn the language as mother tongue at home"

Page 3 of 6
EL 101: Language, Culture and Society
  Severely endangered - "language is spoken by grandparents and older generations; while
the parent generation may understand it, they do not speak it to children or among
themselves"
 Critically endangered - "the youngest speakers are grandparents and older, and they speak
the language partially and infrequently"
 Extinct - "there are no speakers left"
In the modern period, languages have typically become extinct as a result of the process of cultural
assimilation leading to language shift, and the gradual abandonment of a native language in favour
of a foreign lingua franca, largely those of European countries.

Philippines
Language
Alabat Island Agta language
Bataan Ayta language
Batak language
Camarines Norte Agta
language
Central Cagayan Agta
language
Dupaninan Agta language
Faire Atta language
Isarog Agta language
Mt. Iraya Agta language
Northern Alta language
Ratagnon language
Sorsogon Ayta language
Status
Critically endangered
Definitely endangered
Definitely endangered
Severely endangered
Vulnerable
Vulnerable
Severely endangered
Critically endangered
Definitely endangered
Severely endangered
Severely endangered
Critically endangered

LANGUAGE DEATH
Language death is a protracted change of state. Used to describe community-level loss of
competence in a language, it denotes a process that does not affect all speakers at the same time
nor to the same extent. Under one conception of the process, it concerns the statistical assessment
of the maintenance versus loss of competence in a language variety among its speakers. Total death
occurs when a language loses its last native speaker or is declared when no speakers are left of a
particular language variety in a population that had used it.
Language death is a process in which the level of a speech community's linguistic competence in
their language variety decreases, eventually resulting in no native or fluent speakers of the variety.
Language death can affect any language form, including dialects.
A language is often declared to be dead even before the last native speaker of the language has
died. If there are only a few elderly speakers of a language remaining, and they no longer use that
language for communication, then the language is effectively dead. A language that has reached
such a reduced stage of use is generally considered moribund (this is when the community of
speakers gradually shifts to using other languages)
A dead language may still be studied through recordings or writings, but it is still dead or extinct
unless there are fluent speakers. Although languages have always become extinct throughout
human history, they are currently dying at an accelerated rate because of globalization,
neocolonialism and linguicide (language killing).
Half of the spoken languages of the world are not being taught to new generations of children.
Once a language is no longer a native language—that is, if no children are being socialized into it
as their primary language—the process of transmission is ended and the language itself will not
survive past the current generations.

Page 4 of 6
EL 101: Language, Culture and Society
Language death is rarely a sudden event, but a slow process of each generation learning less and
less of the language, until its use is relegated to the domain of traditional use, such as in poetry and
song. Typically the transmission of the language from adults to children becomes more and more
restricted, to the final setting that adults speaking the language will raise children who never
acquire fluency.
Types of Language Death
1. Gradual Language Death. The most common way that languages disappear. This normally
happens when speakers of one language come into contact with a language of higher prestige
(the language of more dominant or powerful group of people). The generation may be bilingual
for a long time, but with each successive generation fewer young people speak their native
language and has lower level of proficiency as they opt to use the prestige language instead.
Until one day their native language is no longer spoken. The language normally dies out first
in more formal contexts, but it continues to be spoken in casual settings for a longer period of
time.
e.g. Cornish language in Cornwall (19th century). This language ceased to be spoken as native
language due to the growing influence of English and the growing perception that Cornish is a
lower class language.

2. Bottom-to-Top Language Death. A language ceases to be used as a native spoken language

but continues to be used in certain contexts, normally in a formal religious/ ceremonial/ literary
context. The language dies out in casual contexts (bottom), but it continues to be used at the
formal context (top).
e.g. Latin language which is basically no longer used outside of religious and ceremonial
contexts. There is no native speaker of the language but it is still used for other function such
as religious or ceremonial contexts.

3. Sudden Language Death. This occurs when all or almost all of the speakers of a language
suddenly die as a result of disaster or violence.
e.g. Tasmanian language (1830s) virtually all of the island’s native inhabitants were wiped out
by European colonists during a war

4. Radical Language Death. This also occurs rapidly and normally happens as a result under
political repression or the threat of violence. In this, the language speakers aren’t wiped out
but suddenly stop using their own language as a way to avoid persecution.
e.g. Uprising in El Salvador (1930). This was when many aboriginals abruptly stopped
speaking their native languages to avoid being identified as aboriginals and potentially killed.

e.g. Ajawa language in Nigeria. This was when the entire community of fluent speakers
switched to Hausa language for economic and practical reason. The community abruptly
stopped using the native language and it was not passed down the generation. In this case, they
gave up their native language because Hausa was more beneficial to their community.

Anthropologist Akira Yamamoto has identified nine factors that he believes will help prevent
language death:

1. There must be a dominant culture that favors linguistic diversity

2. The endangered community must possess an ethnic identity that is strong enough to
encourage language preservation
3. The creation and promotion of programs that educate students on the endangered
language and culture
4. The creation of school programs that are both bilingual and bicultural
5. For native speakers to receive teacher training
6. The endangered speech community must be completely involved
7. There must be language materials created that are easy to use
8. The language must have written materials that encompass new and traditional content

Page 5 of 6
EL 101: Language, Culture and Society
 9. The language must be used in new environments and the areas the language is used (both
old and new) must be strengthened

Differences of Endangered, Dead, and Extinct Language

An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use as its speakers die out
or shift to speaking another language.
Dead language occurs when the language has no more native speakers, but is still restrictedly
used. There are speakers of the language but they use it only for some function and the language
is not their native language anymore. Some people can speak the language, but is not passed down
to generations as native language.
Extinct language is when no one can speak the language at all or no living person can speak it.

LANGUAGE PLANNING and Policy

National language vs. Official language. National language has a symbolic function and it is
integrative while official language has a more utilitarian function and it is instrumental. The same
language may be both a national and official language.
Language planning refers to deliberate efforts to influence the behavior of others with respect to
the acquisition, structure, or functional allocation of their language codes (Cooper, 1989).
Language planning is the development of goals, objectives and strategies to change the way in
which the speakers think of and use their language (Baker & Jones, 1998; Ignace, 1998).
Language planning is to reform and revitalize a language, to modernize and standardize a
language, to spread and strengthen the language communication and to attain national unity and
harmony (Asmah, 1994; Coronel-Molina, 1999; Kavanagh 1999; Ignace, 1998; Nahir, 1994; Noss,
1994)
Many countries have a language policy designed to favor or discourage the use of a particular
language or set of languages. Although nations historically have used language policies most often
to promote one official language at the expense of others, many countries now have policies
designed to protect and promote regional and ethnic languages whose viability is threatened.
Indeed, whilst the existence of linguistic minorities within their jurisdiction has often been
considered to be a potential threat to internal cohesion, States also understand that providing
language rights to minorities may be more in their long term interest, as a means of gaining citizens'
trust in the central government.
Language policy is what a government does either officially through legislation, court decisions
or policy to determine how languages are used, cultivate language skills needed to meet national
priorities or to establish the rights of individuals or groups to use and maintain languages. The
scope of language policy varies in practice from State to State. This may be explained by the fact
that language policy is often based on contingent historical reasons. Likewise, States also differ as
to the degree of explicitness with which they implement a given language policy. The preservation
of cultural and linguistic diversity in today's world is a major concern to many scientists, artists,
writers, politicians, leaders of linguistic communities, and defenders of linguistic human rights.
More than half of the 6000 languages currently spoken in the world are estimated to be in danger
of disappearing during the 21st century. Many factors affect the existence and usage of any given
human language, including the size of the native speaking population, its use in formal
communication, and the geographical dispersion and the socio-economic weight of its speakers.
National language policies can either mitigate or exacerbate the effects of some of these factors.

Page 6 of 6
EL 101: Language, Culture and Society