1. Pidgin and Creole

Pidgin and Creole are linguistic technical terms developed for describing two similar and yet fundamentally different concepts. Their definitions are however under continuous debate in the academia. Definitions vary in a way that they may have different basis: function (i.e. the role of the language in society), historical origins and development, formal grammatical characteristics, or a combination of these (DeCamp 1977, p.3). In order to avoid entering the lengthy discussion of the debates, this field trip report adopts their classical definitions which are based on the presence of native speaker, although in this section some other features are also discussed.

Holm (1988) stated that “a pidgin is a reduced language that results from extended contact between groups of people with no language in common” (p.5-6). In other words, a pidgin develops in situations where speakers of different languages need to communicate but do not share a common language (Da Pidgin Coup 1999, p.5). Such development occurs usually for particular purposes such as commerce and trade: “a pidgin language is not the first language of either group, but is born of necessity” (Tyron & Charpentier 2004, p.5).

Pidgin also evolves. According to Tyron and Charpentier (2004), one of the groups in such contact, usually the colonisers or the employers, is more powerful than the others (p.5); the predominant group's language becomes the superstate language which is then used by the less powerful group whose language has become the substrate language (Sakoda 2013). The interaction between the two different languages, as a result of the social power relations, leads to the emergence and the changes of pidgin. Grammatically, pidgin is usually, but not absolutely, characterised by the simplified grammar and sound system and a reduced vocabulary (Tyron & Charpentier 2004, p.5). It is usually agreed that pidgin has “restricted vocabulary, absence of (grammatical) gender, true tenses, inflectional morphology, or relative clauses, etc.” (DeCamp 1977, p.3-4). (Grammatical gender refers to the classes of nouns reflected in the behaviour of associated words (Corbett 1991, p.4).)

On the other hand, a creole is a more complicated concept that has been under debate as creolisation, (i.e. the process in which a pidgin becomes a creole, or in which a creole emerges) remains controversial that in the discussion on this issue(Adone 2012, p.2). Adopting the classical view, if a pidgin is learnt by children as their first language and becomes the mother tongue, it is called a creole (Adone 2012, p.3; Da Pidgin Coup 1999, p.5). Unlike a pidgin whose use is restricted, the use of creole is not restricted and resembles any other language in its full range of functions (Da Pidgin Coup 1999, p.5). Bickerton (1990) also pointed out that a creole has its own grammar when it has evolved from a pidgin.

This section aims at providing a general picture of the debates and discussion on the two linguistically technical terms. The ongoing debate, suggested by DeCamp (1977), is “intimately tied up with the most basic questions in linguistics” (p.4) such as what language is, how it is meaningfully described, how they originate and the roles they play in society. Thus, the section serves as an introduction to the various aspects of the studies of contact languages.

References

Adone, D (2012). The acquisition of creole languages: How children surpass their input. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bickerton, Derek (1990). Language and Species. University of Chicago Press.

Corbett, Greville G. (1991). Gender. Cambridge University Press.

Da Pidgin Coup (1999). Pidgin and education: A standpoint paper.

DeCamp, D. (1977). The Development of Pidgin and Creole Studies. Pidgin and creole linguistics. A. Valdman (Ed.). Bloomington & London: Indiana University Press.

Holm, J. (1988). Pidgins and creoles (Vols. 1-2). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sakoda, K. (June 21, 2013). Hawaii Creole English. Special Lecture conducted from Hawaii University at Manoa.

Tyron, D. T. & Charpentier, J. (2004). Pacific pidgins and creoles: Origins, growth and development. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.