Pidgin
A pidgin is a simplified or "broken" form of language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common.
The word pidgin (also spelt pigion) comes from a Chinese Pidgin English pronunciation of the word business. Originally used to describe Chinese Pidgin English, it was later generalized to refer to any pidgin.
Pidgins are not the native language of any community, but they are instead learned as second languages.
Commerce and trade but also colonization are often the main catalysts for the creation of a pidgin. Groups that speak different languages are forced together by various factors which can include migration, immigration, slavery, and insufficient education.
In fact, 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.
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History
In the nineteenth century, when slaves from Africa were brought over to North America to work on the plantations, they were separated from the people of their community and mixed with people of various other communities so that they could not communicate with each other.
A pidgin was therefore created to allow the slaves on the plantations to talk to each other and their bosses.
Pidgins also arose because of colonization. Prominent languages such as French, Spanish, Portuguese, English, and Dutch were the languages of the colonizers. They traveled, and set up ports in coastal towns where shipping and trading routes were accessible.
Formation & Usage
There is always a dominant language which contributes most of the vocabulary of the pidgin, this is called the superstrate language.
In the United States, for example, the Louisiana Creole is derived from French and African Languages. French being the original language that was modified to create the Creole.
Pidgins have their own norms of usage which, as with all languages, must be learnt to speak the pidgin well. However the grammatical structure is very simple and has an uncomplicated clause structure.
Examples of Hawaian Pidgin
- and then
- brother or pal
- check it out
- guaranteed
- let's go
Examples of Nigerian Pidgin
- I don't know
- Come and eat
- here
- what's happening?
