Not to be confused with the Pigeon bird. For the instant messaging client, see Pidgin.
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a simplified version of a language that develops as a means
of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. 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. 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. A pidgin may be built from words,
sounds, or body language from multiple other languages and cultures. Pidgins allow people
or a group of people to communicate with each other without having any similarities in language.
Pidgins usually have low prestige with respect to other languages.
Not all simplified or "broken" forms of a language are pidgins. Each pidgin has its
own norms of usage which must be learned for proficiency in the pidgin.
Etymology The origin of the word is uncertain. Pidgin
first appeared in print in 1850. The most widely accepted etymology is from the Chinese
pronunciation of the English word business. Another etymology that has been proposed is
English pigeon, a bird sometimes used for carrying brief written messages, especially
in times prior to modern telecommunications. Terminology
The word pidgin, formerly also spelled pigion, used to refer originally to Chinese Pidgin
English, but was later generalized to refer to any pidgin. 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. 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; 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 are often
full blown languages in their own right such as Swahili. Trade languages tend to be "vehicular
languages", while pidgins can evolve into the vernacular.
Common traits among pidgin languages Since a pidgin language is a fundamentally
simpler form of communication, the grammar and phonology are usually as simple as possible,
and usually consist of: Uncomplicated clausal structure
Reduction or elimination of syllable codas Reduction of consonant clusters or breaking
them with epenthesis Basic vowels, such as [a, e, i, o, u]
No tones, such as those found in West African and Asian languages
Use of separate words to indicate tense, usually preceding the verb
Use of reduplication to represent plurals, superlatives, and other parts of speech that
represent the concept being increased A lack of morphophonemic variation
Pidgin 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 a widespread, accessible interlanguage Keith Whinnom) suggests that pidgins need
three languages to form, with one 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, 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. However, not all pidgins become creole languages; a pidgin
may die out before this phase would occur. 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.
See also
Notes
References Bakker, Peter, "Pidgins", in Jacques Arends;
Pieter Muysken; Norval Smithh, Pidgins and Creoles: An Introduction, John Benjamins,
pp. 26–39 Hymes, Dell, Pidginization and Creolization
of Languages, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-07833-4
McWhorter, John, The Power of Babel: The Natural History of Language, Random House Group, ISBN 0-06-052085-X
Sebba, Mark, Contact Languages: Pidgins and Creoles, MacMillan, ISBN 0-333-63024-6
Thomason, Sarah G.; Kaufman, Terrence, Language contact, creolization, and genetic linguistics,
Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-07893-4
Todd, Loreto, Pidgins and Creoles, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-05311-0
Further reading Holm, John, An Introduction to Pidgins and
Creoles, Cambridge Univ. Press. External links
Language Varieties Web Site