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 Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

in common: typically, its vocabulary and

grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...

are limited and often drawn from several languages. It is most commonly employed in situations such as

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...

, 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 A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''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 a multitude of languages as well as onomatopoeia. As the

lexicon A lexicon (plural: lexicons, rarely lexica) is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Greek word () ...

of any pidgin will be limited to core vocabulary, words with only a specific meaning in the lexifier language may acquire a completely new (or additional) meaning in the pidgin. 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. 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. A pidgin differs from a creole, which is the

first language A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''native 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 speakers of an acquired pidgin learn it and use it as their native language.

Etymology

''Pidgin'' derives from a 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 The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

'' mean "business; an action, occupation, or affair" (the earliest being from 1807). The term ''pidgin English'' ('business 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 came to be used in a more general linguistic sense to refer to any simplified language by the late 19th century."pidgin, n." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, January 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/143533. Accessed 23 January 2018. A popular

false etymology A false etymology (fake etymology or pseudo-etymology) is a false theory about the origin or derivation of a specific word or phrase. When a false etymology becomes a popular belief in a cultural/linguistic community, it is a folk etymology (or po ...

for ''pidgin'' 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'', was first applied 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 Chinook Jargon (' or ', also known simply as ''Chinook'' or ''Jargon'') is a language originating as a pidgin language, pidgin trade language in the Pacific Northwest. It spread during the 19th century from the lower Columbia River, first to othe ...

. 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 Jargon, or technical language, is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular Context (language use), communicative context and may not be well understood outside ...

'' most often means the specialized vocabulary of some 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, and 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 * Lack of morphophonemic variation * Lack of tones, such as those found in Niger-Congo, Austroasiatic and Sino-Tibetan language families and in various families of the indigenous languages of the Americas * Lack of

grammatical tense In grammar, tense is a grammatical category, category that expresses time reference. Tenses are usually manifested by the use of specific forms of verbs, particularly in their grammatical conjugation, conjugation patterns. The main tenses found ...

; use of separate words to indicate tense, usually preceding the

verb A verb is a word that generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual description of English, the basic f ...

* Lack of conjugation, declension or agreement * Lack of

grammatical gender In linguistics, a grammatical gender system is a specific form of a noun class system, where nouns are assigned to gender categories that are often not related to the real-world qualities of the entities denoted by those nouns. In languages wit ...

or number, commonly supplanted by reduplication to represent plurals and superlatives, and other parts of speech that represent the concept being increased and clear indication of the gender of animated objects. * Lack of clear parts of speech or word categorization; common use and derivation of new vocabulary through conversion, e.g. nominalization, verbification, adjectivization etc.

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 ) 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 language A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable form of contact language that develops from the process of different languages simplifying and mixing into a new form (often a pidgin), and then that form expanding and elaborating into a full-fl ...

s 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 (such as the Chavacano language in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, Krio in Sierra Leone, and Tok Pisin in

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

). 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.

List of notable pidgins

Many of these languages are commonly referred to by their speakers as "Pidgin". * Algonquian–Basque pidgin * Arafundi-Enga Pidgin * Arunachali Hindi * Bamboo English * Barikanchi Pidgin * Basque–Icelandic pidgin * Bimbashi Arabic * Bislama (creolized) * Bombay Hindi * Borgarmålet * Bozal Spanish * Broken Oghibbeway * Broken Slavey and Loucheux Jargon * Broome Pearling Lugger Pidgin * Camtho * Cameroonian Pidgin English (creolized) * Cocoliche *

* Duvle-Wano Pidgin * Eskimo Trade Jargon * Ewondo Populaire * Fanagalo (Pidgin Zulu) * Français Tirailleur * Haflong Hindi * International Sign * Inuktitut-English Pidgin * Kiautschou Pidgin German * KiKAR (Swahili pidgin) * Kwoma-Manambu Pidgin * Kyakhta Russian–Chinese Pidgin * Kyowa-go and Xieheyu * Labrador Inuit Pidgin French * Madras Bashai * Maridi Arabic * Maritime Polynesian Pidgin * Mediterranean Lingua Franca (Sabir) * Mekeo pidgins * Mobilian Jargon * Namibian Black German * Ndyuka-Tiriyó Pidgin * Nefamese * Nigerian Pidgin (creolized) * Nootka Jargon * Pidgin Delaware * Pidgin Hawaiian * Pidgin Iha * Pidgin Ngarluma * Pidgin Onin * Pidgin Wolof * Pijin (creolized) * Roquetas Pidgin Spanish * Russenorsk * Settler Swahili * Surzhyk * Sranan Tongo * Taimyr Pidgin Russian * Tây Bồi Pidgin French * Tinglish * Te Parau Tinito * Tok Pisin (creolized) * Turku language * West Greenlandic Pidgin * Yokohama Pidgin Japanese

Notes

References

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External links

Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures (APiCS)
{{Authority control Interlinguistics Pidgin Linguistics terminology