A resource book for students World Englishes Jennifer Jenkins

Strand 2: Pidgins and creoles Definition pidgin A pidgin is a language with no native speakers: it is no one’s first language but is a contact language. (Wardhaugh 2006: 61–3) Definition creole In contrast to a pidgin, a creole is often defined as a pidgin that has become the first language of a new generation of speakers. (Wardhaugh 2006: 61–3) A2

Pidgins - Stigmatisation as inferior, ‘bad’ languages - European expansion into Africa and Asia during colonial period - Contact languages between ‘dominant’ European language speakers and speakers of mutually unintelligible indigenous African and American languages - Fulfils restricted communicative needs between people who do not share a common language - Little need for grammatical redundancy A2

Creoles Creolisation: development of a pidgin into a creole A: children of pidgin speakers use their parents’ pidgin language as a mother tongue  creole B: pidgin is used as a lingua franca in multilingual areas and develops to be used for an increasing number of functions  creole - Vocabulary expands and grammar increases in complexity Decreolisation: through extensive contact with the dominant language develops towards standard dominant language A2

Theories of origins Three groups of theories 1 Monogenesis: pidgins have a single origin 2 Polygenesis: pidgins have an independent origin 3 Universal: pidgins derive from universal strategies A2

Monogenesis The theory of monogenesis and relexification: - All European-based pidgins and creoles derive ultimately from one proto-pidgin source, a Portuguese pidgin that was used in the world’s trade routes during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries - Evidence for this theory: many linguistic similarities between present-day Portuguese pidgins and creoles, and pidgins and creoles related to other European languages A2

Polygenesis The independent parallel development theory: - Pidgins and creoles arose and developed independently, but in similar ways because they shared a common linguistic ancestor - Pidgins and creoles were formed in similar social and physical conditions A2

Polygenesis The nautical jargon theory: - A nautical jargon, i.e. the European sailors’ lingua franca, formed a nucleus for the various pidgins, which were expanded in line with their learners’ mother tongues - Evidence for this theory: nautical element in all pidgins and creoles with European lexicons A2

Universal The baby talk theory: - Based on similarities between certain pidgins and early speech of children - Also because speakers of the dominant language use foreigner talk (simplified speech) with L2 speakers A2

Universal A synthesis: - Based on universal patterns of linguistic behaviour in contact situations - Inherent universal constraints on language - Evidence for this theory: proficient as well as less proficient speakers from different L1s and speech communities simplify their language in very similar ways; children go through the same stages in the mastery of speech A2

Characteristics of pidgins and creoles Lexis  Drawn from lexifier language (usually a European language)  Systematic and rule-governed  Concepts encoded in lengthier ways  Extensive use of reduplication Pronunciation  Fewer sounds  Simplification of consonant clusters  Conflation  Large number of homophones B2

Characteristics of pidgins and creoles Grammar  Few inflections in nouns, pronouns, verbs and adjectives  Simple negative particle for negation  Uncomplicated clause structure Development of pidgins  creoles  Assimilation and reduction  Expansion of vocabulary  Development of tense system in verbs  Greater sentence complexity B2

Characteristics of pidgins and creoles Social functions  Wide range of social functions beyond the original purpose to serve as basic contact languages  Literature (written and oral)  Education  Mass media  Advertising  The Bible B2

London Jamaican A combination of Jamaican Creole and a local form of non-standard English Powerful marker of group identity Shows grammatical, phonological and lexical features of Jamaican Creole Also shows features of London English which do not occur in Jamaican Creole C2

Ebonics Also known as Africa-American Vernacular English (AAVE) No agreement on how it developed Debate about its status and the approach to be taken in schools – Oakland school board: Ebonics regarded as valid linguistic system and as second language, used as language of instruction – Strong reactions: many opposed this approach, some were in favour C2