Editing Pidgin (section)

{{About|the form of language in general|particular languages|Pidgin#List of notable pidgins|other uses|Pidgin (disambiguation)}}
{{short description|Simplified language}}

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A '''pidgin'''<ref>{{cite book |chapter=The study of pidgin and creole languages |last1=Muysken |first1=Pieter |last2=Smith |first2=Norval |chapter-url=http://semantics.uchicago.edu/kennedy/classes/sum07/myths/creoles.pdf |pages=3–14 |title=Pidgins and Creoles: An Introduction |editor1-last=Arends |editor1-first=Jacques |editor2-last=Muijsken |editor2-first=Pieter |editor3-last=Smith |editor3-first=Norval |publisher=John Benjamins |year=2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Language varieties: Pidgins and creoles |first=Fatma |last=Özüorçun |year=2014 |url=http://euljss.eul.edu.tr/euljss/si526.pdf |journal= |access-date=2017-05-24 |archive-date=2018-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712173017/http://euljss.eul.edu.tr/euljss/si526.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Bickerton |first=Derek |title=Pidgin and creole studies |journal=Annual Review of Anthropology |year=1976 |volume=5 |pages=169–93 |doi=10.1146/annurev.an.05.100176.001125 |jstor=2949309}}</ref> {{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɪ|dʒ|ᵻ|n}}, or '''pidgin language''', is a grammatically simplified form of [[Language contact|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 from several languages. 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 (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]] of any speech community, but is instead learned as a second language.<ref>See {{Harvcoltxt|Todd|1990|p=3}}</ref><ref>See {{Harvcoltxt|Thomason|Kaufman|1988|p=169}}</ref>

A pidgin may be built from words, sounds, or body language from a multitude of languages as well as [[onomatopoeia]]. As the [[lexicon]] 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.{{fact|date=April 2024}}

Pidgins have historically been considered a form of ''[[patois]]'', unsophisticated simplified versions of their lexifiers, and as such usually have low [[prestige (sociolinguistics)|prestige]] with respect to other languages.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Bakker|1994|p= 27}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Bakker|1994|p=26}}</ref>

A pidgin differs from a [[creole language|creole]], which is the [[first language]] of a speech community of [[native speaker]]s that at one point arose from a pidgin. Unlike pidgins, creoles have fully developed vocabulary and patterned grammar.{{fact|date=April 2024}} Most linguists{{whom|date=April 2024}} 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.{{fact|date=April 2024}}