Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Pidgin
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
{{About|the form of language in general|particular languages|Pidgin#List of notable pidgins|other uses|Pidgin (disambiguation)}} {{short description|Simplified language}} {{Multiple issues| {{Excessive examples|date=April 2024}} {{More citations needed|date=April 2024}} }} 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}} == Etymology == ''Pidgin'' derives from a [[Chinese Language|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]]'' 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.<ref name="oed.com">"pidgin, n." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, January 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/143533. Accessed 23 January 2018.</ref><ref name=etymonline>{{Citation | title = Online Etymology Dictionary | url = http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pidgin}}</ref> A popular [[false etymology]] for ''pidgin'' is English ''[[pigeon]]'', a bird sometimes [[Pigeon post|used for carrying]] brief written messages, especially in times prior to modern telecommunications.<ref name="oed.com"/><ref>{{Citation |last=Crystal |first=David |author-link=David Crystal |contribution=Pidgin |title=The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language |edition=2nd |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1997}}</ref> == Terminology == The word ''pidgin'', formerly also spelled ''pigion'',<ref name="etymonline"/> was first applied to [[Chinese Pidgin English]], but was later generalized to refer to any pidgin.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Bakker|1994|p=25}}</ref> ''Pidgin'' may also be used as the specific name for local pidgins or [[Creole language|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.<ref>Smith, Geoff P. ''Growing Up with Tok Pisin: Contact, creolization, and change in Papua New Guinea's national language''. London: Battlebridge. 2002. p. 4.</ref><ref>Thus the published court reports of Papua New Guinea refer to Tok Pisin as "Pidgin": see for example ''Schubert v The State'' [1979] PNGLR 66.</ref> 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]]. In this context, linguists today use ''jargon'' to denote a particularly rudimentary type of pidgin;<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Bakker|1994|pp=25–26}}</ref> however, this usage is rather rare, and the term ''[[jargon]]'' 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 language|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.{{fact|date=April 2024}} == Common traits == {{Unreferenced section|date=September 2020}} 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 [[clause|clausal]] structure (e.g., no [[subordinate clause|embedded]] clauses, etc.) * Reduction or elimination of [[syllable coda]]s * Reduction of consonant clusters or breaking them with [[epenthesis]] * Elimination of [[Aspiration (linguistics)|aspiration]] or [[sound changes]] * [[Monophthongization]] is common, employment of as few basic vowels as possible, such as {{IPA|[a, e, i, o, u]}} * Lack of [[Morphophonology|morphophonemic variation]] * Lack of [[tone (linguistics)|tones]], such as those found in [[Niger-Congo languages|Niger-Congo]], [[Austroasiatic languages|Austroasiatic]] and [[Sino-Tibetan languages|Sino-Tibetan]] language families and in various families of the [[indigenous languages of the Americas]] * Lack of [[grammatical tense]]; use of separate words to indicate tense, usually preceding the [[verb]] * Lack of [[Conjugation (grammar)|conjugation]], [[declension]] or [[Agreement (linguistics)|agreement]] * Lack of [[grammatical gender]] or [[grammatical number|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 (word formation)|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 {{Harvcoltxt|Hymes|1971}}) 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]]s when a generation of children learn a pidgin as their first language,<ref> For example: {{cite book | editor1-last = Campbell | editor1-first = John Howland | editor2-last = Schopf | editor2-first = J. William | editor2-link = J. William Schopf | others = Contributor: [[University of California, Los Angeles]]. IGPP Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life | title = Creative Evolution | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ve38UmPnfO0C | series = Life Science Series | publisher = Jones & Bartlett Learning | date = 1994 | page = 81 | isbn = 9780867209617 | access-date = 2014-04-20 | quote = [...] the children of pidgin-speaking parents face a big problem, because pidgins are so rudimentary and inexpressive, poorly capable of expressing the nuances of a full range of human emotions and life situations. The first generation of such children spontaneously develops a pidgin into a more complex language termed a creole. [...] [T]he evolution of a pidgin into a creole is unconscious and spontaneous. }} </ref> 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]], [[Sierra Leone Krio language|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 (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 [[slave]]s, absorbing certain words and features from the slaves' non-European native languages, resulting in a heavily [[basilect]]alized 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://humanities.uchicago.edu/faculty/mufwene/pidginCreoleLanguage.html |title=Salikoko Mufwene: "Pidgin and Creole Languages" |publisher=Humanities.uchicago.edu |access-date=2010-04-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603044826/http://humanities.uchicago.edu/faculty/mufwene/pidginCreoleLanguage.html |archive-date=2013-06-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref> == List of notable pidgins == {{Excessive examples|section|date=April 2024}} Many of these languages are commonly referred to by their speakers as "Pidgin". {{div col|colwidth=16em}} * [[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]] * [[Chinook Jargon]] * [[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 language#Trade language|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 language|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]] {{div col end}} == See also == * [[Bilingual pun]] * [[Camfranglais]] (Cameroon) * [[Creole language]] * [[Engrish]] * [[Hiri Motu]] * [[International auxiliary language]] * [[Lingua franca]] * [[Macaronic language]] * [[Mixed language]] * [[Spanglish]] * [[Universal language]] == Notes == {{Reflist|30em}} == References == * {{citation |last=Bakker |first=Peter |year=1994 |chapter=Pidgins |editor1-last=Arends |editor1-first=Jacques |editor2-last=Muijsken |editor2-first=Pieter |editor3-last=Smith |editor3-first=Norval |title=Pidgins and Creoles: An Introduction |publisher=John Benjamins |pages=26–39 }} * {{citation |last=Hymes |first=Dell |title=Pidginization and Creolization of Languages |publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=1971 |isbn=0-521-07833-4}} * {{Citation | author=McWhorter, John | title=The Power of Babel: The Natural History of Language | publisher=[[Random House|Random House Group]] | year=2002 | isbn=0-06-052085-X | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/powerofbabelnatu00mcwh }} * {{Citation | author=Sebba, Mark | title=Contact Languages: Pidgins and Creoles | publisher=MacMillan| year=1997|isbn=0-333-63024-6}} *{{citation |last1=Thomason |first1=Sarah G. |author-link1=Sarah Thomason |last2=Kaufman |first2=Terrence |author-link2=Terrence Kaufman |year=1988 |title=Language contact, creolization, and genetic linguistics |place=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-07893-4}} * {{citation|last=Todd|first=Loreto|title=Pidgins and Creoles|year=1990|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=0-415-05311-0}} ==Further reading== *Holm, John (2000), ''An Introduction to Pidgins and Creoles'', [[Cambridge University Press]] == External links == *[https://apics-online.info/ Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures (APiCS)] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20090531014506/http://www.une.edu.au/langnet/index.html Language Varieties Web Site] {{wiktionary}} {{Authority control}} [[Category:Interlinguistics]] [[Category:Pidgins and creoles| Pidgin]] [[Category:Linguistics terminology]]
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Pages transcluded onto the current version of this page
(
help
)
:
Template:About
(
edit
)
Template:Ambox
(
edit
)
Template:Authority control
(
edit
)
Template:Citation
(
edit
)
Template:Cite book
(
edit
)
Template:Cite journal
(
edit
)
Template:Cite web
(
edit
)
Template:Div col
(
edit
)
Template:Div col end
(
edit
)
Template:Excessive examples
(
edit
)
Template:Fact
(
edit
)
Template:Harvcoltxt
(
edit
)
Template:IPA
(
edit
)
Template:IPAc-en
(
edit
)
Template:Multiple issues
(
edit
)
Template:Reflist
(
edit
)
Template:Short description
(
edit
)
Template:Sister project
(
edit
)
Template:Unreferenced
(
edit
)
Template:Unreferenced section
(
edit
)
Template:Whom
(
edit
)
Template:Wiktionary
(
edit
)