PIDGIN AND CREOLE ( sociolinguistics )

—  A pidgin is a language with no native speakers: it is no one’s first language but is a contact language.

—  A creole is often define as a pidgin that has become the first language of a new generation of speakers.

—  Locations

            The origin of pidgin comes from colonialism, trade and slavery. Pidgin languages started to develop in areas where the colonists and traders came and settled. Pidgin is a mix of local languages with influences of English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Arabic, Chinese etc. At that time pidgin was the lingua franca for trading and a communication tool for slaves.

            Have you heard of this expression ‘Long time no see‘? That is a simple example of Pidgin based on English. People understand it right away although the elaborate version of it is It has been a long time that I have seen you.

Pidgin creole arises when a mother tongue in a particular community. The structure is still describe the structure of pidgin, creole but called for being their mother tongue. Pidgin can be a creole when the foreign speakers and used by his descendants were then frozen as their first language. It just said creole pidgin language if this has been going on for generations.

Examples of Creole languages that still exist and are actively spoken now:

1. Tok Pisin, one of the official languages of Papua New Guinea. Tok pisin is derived from talk pidgin. Tok pisin consists of primarily English influences but it has also absorbed influences from German, Malay, Portuguese and their own Austronesian languages .

2. Papiamento or Papiamentu, one of the official languages in Aruba, Bonaire en Curaçao. It is a mix of local language with Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English and American Indian languages.

3. Hawaiian Pidgin or Hawaiian Pidgin English or simply called Pidgin is spoken in Hawaii. This creole language is a mix of Portuguese, Hawaiian, American English, Cantonese and Japanese languages.

4. French based creoles are widely spoken in the Caribbean (Guadeloupe & Martinique), Indian Ocean (Seychelles, Réunion & Mauritius).