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Pidgin and Creole Languages

What is Lingua Franca?- Can be defined as:

“a language which is used habitually by people whose mother tongues are different in order to facilitate communication between them”

For example: In Malaysia - Bahasa Malaysia – lingua franca – a language

of communication between people whose first languages differ

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Other terms that are used to refer to lingua francas:

(a) a trade language

(Swahili in East Africa)

(b) a contact language

(Greek Koine in ancient world)

(c) an international language

(English)

(d) An auxiliary language

(Esperanto)

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English – lingua franca:- Spoken in many countries – a native language- Second language in other countries (India, the

Philippines and Singapore) used extensively- Spoken in many ways and at many levels of

proficiencyOther languages – lingua franca:(a) Russian – Former USSR states(b) Classical Arabic – Arab world(c) Swahili – East Africa and Tanzania(d) Chinook Jargon (American Indians) – Northwest of

the US, British Colombia and Alaska (19th Century)

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Lingua Franca – initially developed as a trade language

For example:

(a) Swahili

(b) Hausa

(c) Tok Pisin (which is now developed into a Creole)

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Pidgins- a new language which develops in situations

where the speakers of different languages need to communicate but don’t share a common language

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Pidgin has the following seven qualities:

(a) No native speakers – no one’s native language. Yet spoken by millions as means of communication

(b) A product of multilingual – 3 languages – one is dominant - The dominant language – superior (economical or social factor)- Two languages involved – a power struggle for dominance

c) Combined effort of speakers (different language) – contribute to a new variety – phonology, morphology and syntax

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(d) The dominant group – more vocabulary (lexifier – superstrate) while the less

dominant languages – grammar (substrate)

(e) Reduced grammatical structure, limited vocabulary and a narrow range of functions

- does not have inflections to mark plural / tenses

- does not contain any affixes

(f) Main function – trading

(g) Not used as a means of group identification

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Life span of Pidgin- Short – limited function- Exists for several years – rarely more than a

century- Remains if the need existsFor example:In Vietnam:Pidgin French disappeared – French left- Used for trading – disappear when trading

between the group members comes to an end

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Example of Pidgin:

Tok Pisin- Dialect of Melanesian Pidgin- Spoken more than 2.5 million PNG- Used in the broadcast, print media and

parliamentary debate- Expanded pidgin

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Vocabulary English is the lexifier language of Tok Pisin Most words – English Often pronounced in a different way and

meanings

For example:

‘spak (spark)’ means drunk

‘baksait’ (backside) refers to someone’s back, not their butt

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Words have a meaning much wider than English

For example: a) ‘kilim (from kill him)’ – multiple meanings:hit, beat or killb) ‘gras (from grass)’ : means not only grass

but also hair, fur and feathers Some combinations of words have different

meanings:For example:‘bel hevi’ (from belly heavy) means sad

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Includes words from other languages tooFor example: From Tolai (PNG language)

Lapun – oldPalai – lizard

From MalayBinatang – insectSayor – leafy vegetable

From German and Portuguese too

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Grammar

Is TP just simplified English? at first glance yes Don’t have to add an ‘s’ to show plural

wanpela pisin – one bird tripela pisin – three birds

Don’t have to add ‘ing’ or ‘ed’ to show tense Mi wok nau – I’m working now Mi wok asde – I worked yesterday

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The word ‘em’ can mean : ‘he’, ‘him’, ‘she’, ‘her’ or it (depending on the context)

For example: Em i stap long haus – He’s / She’s in the house Em i lukim mi – He / She / It saw me Mi lukim em – I saw him / her / it.

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TP – own grammatical rules

For example: Mi wok – I worked Yu wok – You worked Em i wok – He / She worked Tom i wok – Tom worked

Note the last two sentences have the little ‘i’ before the verb

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The little word ‘i’ – ‘predicate marker’ Must occur in a sentence when the subject is

‘em’ or a noun (like ‘Tom’ or ‘the bicycle’) To show plural, the word ‘ol’ is used instead

of ‘s’

For example: Mi lukim dok – I saw the dog Mi lukim ol dok – I saw the dogs

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In conclusion, Pidgin : is not baby talk is not a product of laziness not a language which is corrupted / broken

down has their own rules of use and usage has own structures – adapted from other

languages needs to be learnt just like other languages

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Creole

What is Creole? When children start learning a pidgin as their

first language, it becomes the mother tongue of a community = creole

Like a pidgin, a creole is a distinct language – vocabulary taken from another language, the lexifier but has own unique grammar rules

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Most creoles – employed by descendants of African slaves in America and the Caribbean

Have fulfilled functions – more elaborated usage (for education, parliament, government documents)

Status lifted as national language / official language

For example: Tok Pisin – PNG official language / lingua franca Bahasa Indonesia – developed from Malay pidgin

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Examples of Creole: Hawaii Creole English (HCE) – locally known

as ‘Pidgin’ Spoken by at least 600 000 people in the US

(Hawaii) An important marker of local identity Used widely in literature

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Vocabulary

English is the lexifier – most words come from English Pronounced differently Some may have different meanings

For example:‘beef’ means fight

Some combinations of words different meaningsFor example:‘stink eye’ means dirty look‘chicken skin’ means ‘goose bumps’

HCE includes words from other languages tooJapanese ‘obake’ – ghostPortuguese ‘malasada’ - doughnut

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Grammar has a system of signal tenses needs to add ‘bin’ to show past tense the suffix ‘-bad’ to indicate the

progressive

For example:i) Im megim he makes present tense

ii) Im bin megim he made past tense

iii) Im megimbad he is making present prog

iv) Im bin mengimbad he was making past prog

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no morpho phonemic variationFor example in English: space, spaciouselectric, electricity and sign, signature

Sentences giving location use the word ‘ste’ (stay)For example:Da kaet ste in da haus (The cat is in the house)

The word ‘get’ is used for ‘there is/are’For example:Get tu mach turis naudeiz (There are too many tourists nowadays)

‘Haed’ (Had) is used for ‘there was/were’For example:Haed dis ol grin haus (There was this old house)

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Pidgins Creoles have no native speakers

Are the result of extended contact between groups with no language in common, they are used mostly for trade

Have simple grammatical structures

Are not used for group identification

have native speakers

develop from pidgins, they are learnt as a first language by a large number of speakers

are more complex in structure, they also have a wider range of vocabulary to express a wide range of meanings

may take on national and official functions

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Diglossia Defined – relatively stable language situation where

primary dialects exist alongside a divergent and very highly codified variety

Happens when a society has 2 distinct language codes with a very clear functional separation

For example:Classical Arabic (high variety) and the various colloquial varieties (low variety).Classical Arabic – language of the Quran and not for ordinary conversationColloquial variety – ordinary everyday social chores and functions

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How a diglossic situation happens

Society

Language Language

Code 1 Code 2

Separation of language functions

Occurrence of diglossic situation

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Characteristics of Diglossia

More complex grammatical structure Has a respected body of written literature formally learned and used for formal written /

spoken purposes Both high and low varieties – different

functions

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High varieties Used formal lectures and delivering sermons and

literature Perceived more prestigious variety Taught in formal setting Technical terms used: conservation, psychometric

Low varieties Used for giving directions In conversations Children learn Simpler terms used: saucepan, shoe

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Variables that influence style:a) Addresseeb) Social classc) Context and social rolesd) Ethnics Groups

Register– speech related to a certain specialty- concerns with how we use language to express our social identity and social competence

For example: Sports commentators, the language of pilots, court

room and classroom financiers, disc jockeys

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Registers – language of groups of people with common interests / jobs

- language used in situations associated with such groups

For example: Sports announcer talkCooley – steaming in now – bowls to Karim again – stroking it out into the covers – just thinking about a single – Dinesh stuttering steps down the wicket from the bowler’s end.

Language used – distinguishable from other contexts

Vocabulary - obvious distinguishing feature Terms : related to cricketsilly mid on, square leg, the covers – describe positionsOff-break, googly, and leg break – describe deliveries

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Grammar – distinctive

Sports announcers uses – ‘play-by-play’ description

- Focus on action- Involves features such as :

(i) syntactic reduction

(ii) inversion of normal word order in sentences

(iii) heavy noun modification

(iv) routines and formulas

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(i) Syntactic reduction(a) [It] bounced to second base(b) [It’s] a breaking ball outside(c) Karim [is] in difficulty(d) [He’s a] guy who’s a pressure player

Sports announcers :(i) Omit the subject noun or pronoun (a)(ii) Omit the verb ‘be’ (b) and (d)(iii) Omit only ‘be’ (d)However – meaning is not loss

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(ii) Syntactic inversion

(a) In comes Hassan

(b) And all set again is Pat Haden

(c) On deck is big Peter Lim

Reversal / inversion

– another feature of sports announcer talk- Allows the announcer to focus on the action- Provides him/her time to identify the subject

of the action

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(iii) Heavy noun modification

(a) This much sought-after and very expensive footballer

(b) First class referee David Foreman

(c) Clark, the new Chelsea skipper and a player worth every pound they paid for him

Sports announcers – focus on the people instead of the action

- Heavily modified before the noun (a) and (b) or after the noun (c).

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(iv) Routines and Formulas(a) A very good morning to our principal (name),

teachers and friends. First of all I would like to thank (name) for giving me this opportunity to speak today. The topic of my speech today is (title)

(b) A very good afternoon to the adjudicators, the opposition team, ladies and gentlemen. We, the government, firmly believe that (title). Before I proceed any further, please allow me to define the word (word) Therefore, based on our definition, we, the government, firmly believes that the motion of today, (title)

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Routines and Formulas enable :

(a) give the impression of fluency

(b) to convey information with minimal demand on short term memory

(c) retain the listener’s interest and convey the drama of the event

In short, the use of specialised registers:

(a) Develop the desire – quick, efficient and precise communication

(b) Express shared meanings concisely and precisely

(c) Language to develop more and more characteristics – lexical, syntactic and phonological

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JARGON A specialized terminology or set of words used by a certain

groups of people Refers to speech related to a certain specialty It can be considered a slang (‘awek’) or technical (‘tetikus’) –

depending on the status of the users Used for clarity of communication or group identification Used extensively by professionals & social groups which resulted

in the existence of technical dictionaries Spreads from narrow group (original users) until it is understood

& accepted by the mass Sometimes these terms do not last long – die Speakers do not use them Many jargons pass into standard language