Labrador Inuit Pidgin French, also called Belle Isle Pidgin or Inuit French Jargon, was a French-lexified

pidgin A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified form of contact language that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn f ...

spoken between Breton and

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

fishermen and the

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

Labrador Labrador () is a geographic and cultural region within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the primarily continental portion of the province and constitutes 71% of the province's area but is home to only 6% of its populatio ...

from the late 17th century until about 1760.

History

The first traces of Labrador Inuit Pidgin French (LIPF) first appear in 1694, though it is first fully attested in the 1740s by a French Canadian entrepreneur named Jean-Louis Fomel. He said the pidgin was used by the Inuit and made up of a mix of French, Spanish, and possibly Breton. The last attestations were recorded in the 1760s, though the pidgin almost certainly survived past this date.

Lexicon

The lexicon of LIPF was mostly French based but contained influence from Spanish, English, Dutch, Basque, and Breton.

References

French-based pidgins and creoles Languages of Canada Extinct languages of North America North America Native-based pidgins and creoles Languages attested from the 17th century Languages extinct in the 18th century Inuit in Newfoundland and Labrador European-Canadian culture in Newfoundland and Labrador French language in the Americas {{French-lang-stub

History

Lexicon

See also

References