A pidgin is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups who do not share a common language, in situations such as trade. Pidgins are not the native language of any speech community, but are instead learned as second languages.^[1] Pidgins usually have low prestige with respect to other languages.^[2] Pidgin (formerly named Gaim) is a multi-platform instant messaging client that supports many commonly used instant messaging protocols. ... Look up pigeon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... It has been suggested that Commerce be merged into this article or section. ... For other uses, see Prestige (disambiguation). ...

Not all simplified or "broken" forms of language are pidgins. Pidgins have their own norms of usage which must be learned to speak the pidgin well.^[3]

Terminology

The word pidgin, formerly also spelled pigion, derives from a Chinese Pidgin English pronunciation of business. Originally used to describe Chinese Pidgin English, it was later generalized to refer to any pidgin.^[4] Pidgin may also be used as the specific name for a local pidgin in places where they are spoken. For example, the name of Tok Pisin derives from the English words talk pidgin, and its speakers usually refer to it simply as "Pidgin" when speaking English.^{[citation needed]} Chinese Pidgin English is a Pidgin language of Nauru and other countries in Asia and Oceania. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ...

The term jargon has also been used to describe 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.^[5] While jargon is most often used as the term for the words particular to a given profession. For the glossary of hacker slang, see Jargon File. ... Chinook Jargon was a trade language (or pidgin) of the Pacific Northwest, which spread quickly up the West Coast from Oregon, through Washington, British Columbia, and as far as Alaska. ...

Pidgins may start out as or become trade languages, such as Tok Pisin; but trade languages are often full blown languages in their own right such as Swahili, Farsi or English. Trade languages tend to be "vehicular languages", while pidgins can evolve into the vernacular. This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... Swahili (also called Kiswahili; see Kiswahili for a discussion of the nomenclature) is an agglutinative Bantu language widely spoken in East Africa. ... Farsi may refer to: The name of the the Persian language among native speakers Farsi Island, an Iranian island in the Persian Gulf The Jafari Shia Tajiks of Central Asia Salman al-Farsi, one of the prophet Muhammads companions Al-Farisi (1260-1320), Persian mathematician and physicist Jalaleddin Farsi... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Look up Vernacular in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Common traits among pidgins

Since a Pidgin strives to be a simple and effective form of communication, the grammar, phonology, etc, are as simple as possible, and usually consist of: For the rules of English grammar, see English grammar and Disputes in English grammar. ... Phonology (Greek phonē = voice/sound and logos = word/speech), is a subfield of linguistics which studies the sound system of a specific language (or languages). ...

• A Subject-Verb-Object word order in a sentence
• Uncomplicated clausal structure (i.e., no embedded clauses, etc)
• No codas within syllables (Syllables consist of a vowel, with an optional initial consonant)
• Basic vowels, like /a/ /e/ /i/ /o/ /u/
• No tones, such as those found in West African and East Asian languages
• Separate words to indicate tense, usually preceding the verb
• Words are reduplicated to represent plurals, superlatives, and other parts of speech that represent the concept being increased
• A lack of morphophonemic variation

In linguistic typology, subject-verb-object (SVO) is the sequence subject verb object in neutral expressions: Sam ate oranges. ... In grammar, a clause is a word or group of words ordinarily consisting of a subject and a predicate, although in some languages and some types of clauses, the subject may not appear explicitly. ... A clause is a group of words consisting of a subject (often just a single noun) and a predicate (sometimes just a single verb). ... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... This article discusses the unit of speech. ... Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by a closure or stricture of the vocal tract sufficient to cause audible turbulence. ... It has been suggested that Tonal language be merged into this article or section. ... Grammatical tense is a way languages express the time at which an event described by a sentence occurs. ... It has been suggested that Verbal agreement be merged into this article or section. ... Reduplication, in linguistics, is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word, or only part of it, is repeated. ... Look up Plural in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Plural is a grammatical number, typically referring to more than one of the referent in the real world. ... In grammar the superlative of an adjective or adverb is a form of adjective or adverb which indicates that something has some feature to a greater degree than anything it is being compared to in a given context. ... Morphophonology (also morphophonemics, morphonology) is a branch of linguistics which studies: The phonological structure of morphemes. ...

Pidgin development

The creation 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

Also, Keith Whinnom (in Hymes 1971) suggests that pidgins need three languages to form, with one (the superstrate) being clearly dominant over the others. An interlanguage is an emerging linguistic system that has been developed by a learner of a second language who has not become fully proficient yet, but is only approximating the target language: preserving some features of their first language in speaking or writing the target language and creating innovations. ...

It is often posited that pidgins become creole languages when a generation whose parents speak pidgin to each other teach it to their children as their first language. Creoles can then replace the existing mix of languages to become the native language of a community (such as Krio in Sierra Leone and Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea). However, not all pidgins become creole languages; a pidgin may die out before this phase would occur. A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable language that originates seemingly as a new language, sometimes with features that are not inherited from any apparent source, without however qualifying in any appreciable way as a mixed language. ... Krio is a language spoken in Sierra Leone, mainly by the Krio people. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ...

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 heavily 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.^[6] Salikoko Mufwene is Frank J. McLoraine Distinguished Service Professor of linguistics at the University of Chicago. ... An Indentured servant is an unfree labourer under contract to work (for a specified amount of time) for another person, often without any pay, but in exchange for accommodation, food, other essentials and/or free passage to a new country. ... Wiktionary has related dictionary definitions, such as: slave Slave may refer to: Slavery, where people are owned by others, and live to serve their owners without pay Slave (BDSM), a form of sexual and consenual submission Slave clock, in technology, a clock or timer that synchrnonizes to a master clock... In linguistics, a basilect is a dialect of speech that has diverged so far from the standard language that in essence it has become a different language. ...

See also

• Creole language
• Creolization
• Decreolization
• Mediterranean Lingua Franca or Sabir
• Mixed language
• Trading zones
• Béarlachas

A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable language that originates seemingly as a new language, sometimes with features that are not inherited from any apparent source, without however qualifying in any appreciable way as a mixed language. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Creole language. ... Decreolisation is a hypothetical phenomenon whereby over time a creole language reconverges with one of the standard languages from which it originally derived. ... The Lingua franca of the Mediterranean or Sabir (know) was a pidgin language used as a Lingua franca in the Mediterranean Basin from the 11th to the 19th century. ... A mixed language is a language that arises when speakers of different languages are in contact and show a high degree of bilingualism. ... The metaphor of a trading zone is being applied to collaborations in science and technology. ... Béarlachas is a form of pidgin Irish, where English words or phrases are adapted such that they sound like Irish. ...

Notes

References

• Bakker, Peter (1994). "Pidgins", in Jacques Arends, Pieter Muysken, Norval Smithh: Pidgins and Creoles: An Introduction. John Benjamins, 26–39. 
• Hymes, Dell (1971). Pidginization and Creolization of Languages. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-07833-4. 
• McWhorter, John (2002). The Power of Babel: The Natural History of Language. Random House Group. ISBN 0-06-052085-X. 
• Sebba, Mark (1997). Contact Languages: Pidgins and Creoles. MacMillan. ISBN 0-333-63024-6. 
• Thomason, Sarah Grey. Language Contact, Creolization and Genetic Linguistics. 
• Todd, Loreto. Pidgins and Creoles. Routledge. ISBN 0415053110.