Editing Creole language (section)

==History==
===Etymology===
The English term ''creole'' comes from [[wiktionary:créole|French]] {{Langx|fr|créole|label=none}}, which is [[cognate]] with the [[wiktionary:criollo|Spanish term]] {{Langx|es|criollo|label=none}} and [[wiktionary:crioulo|Portuguese]] {{Langx|pt|crioulo|label=none}}, all descending from the verb ''criar'' ('to breed' or 'to raise'), all coming from Latin {{Langx|la|creare|label=none}} {{gloss|to produce, create}}.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Holm|1988}}.</ref> The specific sense of the term was coined in the 16th and 17th century, during the great expansion in European maritime power and trade that led to the establishment of European colonies in other continents.

The terms {{lang|es|criollo}} and {{lang|pt|crioulo}} were originally qualifiers used throughout the Spanish and Portuguese colonies to distinguish the members of an ethnic group who were born and raised locally from those who immigrated as adults. They were most commonly applied to nationals of the colonial power, e.g. to distinguish {{lang|es|[[Criollo people|españoles criollos]]}} (people born in the colonies from Spanish ancestors) from {{Langx|es|españoles peninsulares|label=none}} (those born in the Iberian Peninsula, i.e. Spain). However, in Brazil the term was also used to distinguish between {{lang|pt|negros crioulos}} (blacks born in Brazil from African slave ancestors) and {{lang|pt|negros africanos}} (born in Africa). Over time, the term and its derivatives (Creole, Kréol, Kreyol, [[Kreyòl]], Kriol, [[Krio language|Krio]], etc.) lost the generic meaning and became the proper name of many distinct ethnic groups that developed locally from immigrant communities. Originally, therefore, the term "creole language" meant the speech of any of those [[creole peoples]].

===Geographic distribution===
As a consequence of colonial European trade patterns, most of the known European-based creole languages arose in coastal areas in the equatorial belt around the world, including the [[Americas]], western [[Africa]], [[Goa]] along the west of [[India]], and along Southeast [[Asia]] up to [[Indonesia]], [[Singapore]], [[Macau]], [[Hong Kong]], the [[Philippines]], [[Malaysia]], [[Mauritius]], Réunion, [[Seychelles]] and [[Oceania]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Chambers|first=Douglas B.|date=2008-12-01|title=Slave trade merchants of Spanish New Orleans, 1763–1803: Clarifying the colonial slave trade to Louisiana in Atlantic perspective|journal=Atlantic Studies|volume=5|issue=3|pages=335–346|doi=10.1080/14788810802445024|s2cid=159786747|issn=1478-8810}}</ref>

Many of those creoles are now extinct, but others still survive in the [[Caribbean]], the north and east coasts of [[South America]] ([[The Guyanas]]), western [[Africa]], [[Australia]] (see [[Australian Kriol language]]), the [[Philippines]] (see [[Chavacano]]), island countries such as [[Mauritius]] and [[Seychelles]] and in the [[Indian Ocean]].

[[Atlantic Creole]] languages are based on European languages with elements from African and possibly [[Amerindian languages]]. [[Indian Ocean]] Creole languages are based on European languages with elements from [[Malagasy language|Malagasy]] and possibly other Asian languages. There are, however, creoles like [[Nubi language|Nubi]] and [[Sango language|Sango]] that are derived solely from non-European languages.

===Social and political status===
Because of the generally low status of the Creole peoples in the eyes of prior European colonial powers, creole languages have generally been regarded as "degenerate" languages, or at best as rudimentary "dialects" of the politically dominant parent languages. Because of this, the word "creole" was generally used by linguists in opposition to "language", rather than as a [[Grammatical modifier|qualifier]] for it.<ref name=Meijer>See {{Harvcoltxt|Meijer|Muysken|1977}}.</ref>

Another factor that may have contributed to the relative neglect of creole languages in linguistics is that they do not fit the 19th-century [[neogrammarian]] "tree model" for the evolution of languages, and its postulated regularity of sound changes (these critics including the earliest advocates of the [[wave model (linguistics)|wave model]], [[Johannes Schmidt (linguist)|Johannes Schmidt]] and [[Hugo Schuchardt]], the forerunners of modern [[sociolinguistics]]). This controversy of the late 19th century profoundly shaped modern approaches to the [[comparative method]] in [[historical linguistics]] and in [[creolistics]].<ref name=DeCamp /><ref name=Meijer /><ref name="Traugott 1977">{{Harvcoltxt|Traugott|1977}}</ref>

[[File:Timoun Syèj (Creole).jpg|thumb|[[Haitian Creole]] in use at car rental counter in [[Florida]], U.S. in 2014]]

Because of social, political, and academic changes brought on by decolonization in the second half of the 20th century, creole languages have experienced revivals in the past few decades. They are increasingly being used in print and film, and in many cases, their community prestige has improved dramatically. In fact, some have been standardized, and are used in local schools and universities around the world.<ref name=DeCamp /><ref name=Sebba /><ref>Holm (1988, 1989) <!-- which one? --></ref> At the same time, linguists have begun to come to the realization that creole languages are in no way inferior to other languages. They now use the term "creole" or "creole language" for any language suspected to have undergone [[creolization]], terms that now imply no geographic restrictions nor ethnic prejudices.

There is controversy about the extent to which creolization influenced the evolution of [[African-American Vernacular English]] (AAVE). In the American education system, as well as in the past, the use of the word [[Ebonics (word)|''ebonics'']] to refer to AAVE mirrors the historical negative connotation of the word ''creole''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Williams|first=Robert L.|date=2016-07-25|title=The Ebonics Controversy|journal=Journal of Black Psychology|language=en|volume=23|issue=3|pages=208–214|doi=10.1177/00957984970233002|s2cid=145764278}}</ref>