Pidgins and creoles

History of the English Language

 Language contact

"One of the main reasons why languages change

is that they come into contact with other
languages."
"This contact typically involves bilingual speakers.
Their languages may influence each other: in the
adoption of features of pronunciation, the
borrowing of words, or the modification of
grammar." (Schendl, 2001:55)
 Lexical borrowing

Borrowing is triggered by a perceived gap in the

vocabulary of the recipient language:
a) (esp.) in relation to cultural phenomena
associated with the source/donor language
sherry, waltz, ski, sushi
b) equivalent word in source language is
better/more prestigious (e.g. French loans in
English in such fields as the law, warfare, fashion
and food, etc.)
 Lexical borrowing

• The influence may be affected by the length of

the contact, the extent of the communication
between the speech communities, and the
number and status of their bilingual speakers.
• Borrowing varies across word classes: N
followed by A and V (naming of objects rather
than attributes or processes). Pronouns and
conjunctions are less frequently borrowed
(closed sets of words) but there are exceptions
(they, their, till)
 Lexical borrowing

The loan words are adapted in varying degrees to

the target language:
• phonological adaptations: escanear, fulbo
• translations of complex foreign words (calque;
loan translation): rascacielos from skyscraper
 Structural borrowing

Less obvious than lexical borrowing. Levels:

• phonological: /v, z, ž/
• morphological: -(e)s (from ON)
• syntactic: progressive (from Latin)

Extensive structural borrowing may lead to

convergence.
 Convergence and linguistic areas

“In situations of long and rather stable language

contact, bilingual speakers tend to make their
languages structurally more similar to ease
communication and the acquisition of the others
language(s).”
"This may occur over limited or extended
geographical areas and involve a small or a large
number of related and unrelated languages"
(Schendl, 2001:58).
 Language birth: pidgins and creoles

Pidgins and creoles are contact languages.

“A pidgin is an auxiliary language with a reduced
structure and lexicon which develops to meet the
communicative requirements of speakers of
mutually unintelligible languages, mainly for certain
rudimentary transactions in trade, seafaring, or the
management of labour in general” (Schendl,
2001:59).
 Language birth: pidgins and creoles

Pidgin is in fact a cover term for languages at

various points o a continuum: jargons (ad hoc
systems of communication), stable pidgins (more
complex and fixed) and expanded pidgins (more
morphology and more complex syntax, partly
creolized)
Pidgins have a restricted range of functions with
recurring and predictable situations.
 Language functions

Based on the Organon-Model by Karl Bühler,

Jakobson distinguishes six communication
functions, each associated with a dimension of the
communication process:
 Language functions

• 1 referential (= contextual information)

• 2 aesthetic (= auto-reflection)
• 3 emotive (= self-expression)
• 4 conative (= vocative or imperative addressing of receiver)
• 5 phatic (= checking channel working)
• 6 metalingual (= checking code working)
 Language functions

The referential function corresponds to the factor

of Context and describes a situation, object or
mental state. The descriptive statements of the
referential function can consist of both definite
descriptions and deictic words:
"The autumn leaves have all fallen now."
 Language functions

The expressive (also "emotive" or "affective")

function relates to the Addresser and is best
exemplified by interjections and other sound
changes that do not alter the denotative meaning
of an utterance but do add information about the
Addresser's (speaker's) internal state:
"Wow, what a view!"
 Language functions

The conative (also "directive") function

engages the Addressee directly and is best
illustrated by vocatives and imperatives:
"Tom! Come inside and eat!"

The poetic function focuses on "the message for

its own sake" and is the operative function in
poetry as well as slogans:
"Argentina: un país con buena gente."
 Language functions

The phatic function is language for the sake of

interaction and is therefore associated with the
Contact factor. The phatic function can be
observed in greetings and casual discussions of
the weather, particularly with strangers.

The metalingual (also "metalinguistic" or

"reflexive") function is the use of language (what
Jakobson calls "Code") to discuss or describe
itself.
 Language birth: pidgins and creoles

Pidgins fulfill a restricted range of functions:

• Directive function (to get people to perform a
task) and
• Referential function (to describe a situation to
achieve a particular end).
(No interactional, expressive, poetic or
metalinguistic functions.)
 Language birth: pidgins and creoles

Elementary grammar and vocabulary: fewer

words, but each word will have a wider range of
meanings or will cover a larger semantic domain:
• bif (edible animal) vs bushbif (dangerous animal)
(Cameroon Pidgin)
• gras (grass) but also ‘something which grows
somewhere:
gras bilong het (head), gras bilong maus (mouth),
gras bilong pisin, gras bilong solwara (salt water)
 Language birth: pidgins and creoles

• Fixed, invariable word order (typically SVO)

• Simple phonological systems (typically five
vowels, no length distinctions, few consonants:
/s, sh, ch/ > -[s] (Tok Pisin), and CV syllable
structure)
 Language birth: pidgins and creoles

• A creole is a pidgin that has been adopted as a

first language by a speech community.
• Wider range of functions and therefore more
developed in complexity.
• Faster speech with fewer stressed words >
formation of morphology
• Grammaticalization (words become affixes:
beberé, and compounding processes: wara
bilong skin >skinwara (sweat))
 Language birth: pidgins and creoles

• Morphological markings increase redundancy

• ol + noun  plural noun (TP)
• yu mekim (causative) sam wara i boil>you boilim
wara
• Markers for embedding
• Phonological reduction leads to homophony, so
word formation processes arise
 Language birth: pidgins and creoles

• Reconsideration of traditional views: linguistic

change is observable (Labov), but doubt
whether these changes can be compared to
those in other languages.
• If a creole and its superstrate language coexist
for some time in the same area, decreolization
may take place (Jamaican Creole English and
Standard English in Jamaica).
 Language death

• Languages no longer spoken are called “dead

languages”.
• This is a misleading concept: Latin and Greek vs
Cornish/American indigenous languages.
 Language death

• Language death is applied to the extinction of a

language (perhaps with written traces):
• a) a language dies because its speakers do
(disease, natural disaster, genocide) Tasmanian
• b) intensive language contact prompts speakers
to give up their language gradually and
voluntarily (after an extended period of
bilingualism; reduction of the social functions of
the language>impoverished input for acquisition)
Cornish, Manx