what is pidgins and creoles in sociolinguistuics

pidgin, creole

1. Pidgins and Creoles Philine Therese B. Cercado Reporter

2. Pidgins and Creoles are new varieties of language that emerge when people speaking different languages come into contact with each other. It develop out for a need for a communication among people who do not share a common language. For example, among plantation labourers from diverse geographic origins.

3. Lexifier Pre-Pidgin Pidgin Restricted Pidgin Creole Expanded Pidgin

4. LEXIFIER

5. Most of the words in the vocabulary of the new language come from one of the languages of the people in contact called lexifier or (sometimes the superstate) usually the language of the group with the most power or prestige. However, the meanings and functions of the words, as well as the way they’re pronounced and put together(i.e grammatical rules) of the pidgin or creole, are different to those of the lexifier.

6. An example is the following sentence from Bislama, the dialect of Melanesian Pidgin spoken in Vanuatu. This l anguage arose among Pacific Islanders working as plantation labourers in Queensland (Australia) in the late 1800’s Woman ia bae i kilim ol pig long garen blong hem. woman this FUT ARP hit PL pig in garden POSS 3SG ‘This woman will attack the pigs in her garden.’

7. All the words in the sentence are derived from the lexifier, English but most with different meanings or functions. For example: kilim - kill him-hit or strike long (general preposition)-along hem - him-he,she,it,him and her bae -by( indicates future) FUT blong- belong( to show possession)

8. The way the words put together reflects the rules of the substrate languages , the Eastern Oceanic languages of the southern Pacific. The word i a ( derived from here) means “this” but it follows the noun woman rather than preceding it as this does in English. The small particle i (from he ) is required before the verb to indicate that the subject ( this woman ) is singular. The word ol (derived from all ) precedes the noun pig to indicate plural rather than following -s as in English pigs. Woman ia bae i kilim ol pig long garen blong hem. woman this FUT ARP hit PL pig in garden POSS 3SG ‘This woman will attack the pigs in her garden.’

9. JARGON or Pre- Pidgin

10. Contact languages such as Melanesian Pidgin begin to emerge when people speaking different languages first develop their own individual ways of communicating, often by using words and phrases they have learned from other languages (most often from the lexifier) that they think others might be familiar with, but leaving out words such as prepositions. The combination of these individualized ways of communicating is called a “jargon” or “ pre- pidgin” (2) a. Go my house; me got plenty fruit my house. (Rarotonga-1860) b . He too much bad man. ( Kosrae- 1860)

11. Pidgin

12. If the different language groups remain in contact and start to use the pre-pidgin as lingua franca, certain communicative conventions may develop, resulting in a new language called a pidgin. In the Pacific, this occurred after 1863 when islanders from diverse regions were recruited to work on plantations in Queensland and other areas. A stable pidgin emerged, using some features from the pre-pidgin more consistently, while dropping others.

13. These examples show the use of the preposition along for ‘to, at’, and belonga for possessives ( belonga me replacing my ). These became long and blong in modern Melanesian Pidgin. While got meaning ‘have’ in example (2a) remains modern in modern Melanesian pidgin, bad was replaced by no good when the pidgin stabilized, as shown in (3c) Me want to go along big fellow house… (Queensland-1870s) big wind broke ship belonga me. ( Efate[New Hebrides]-1870) man here no good… ( Tanna [New Hebrides]-1877)

14. Restricted Pidgin

15. Once a stable pidgin has emerged, it generally continues to be learned as an auxiliary language and used only when necessary for intergroup communication. Its total vocabulary is small, and it has little, if any, grammatical words and endings such as to indicate tense or plural. This is called restricted pidgin. Chinese Pidgin English, once an important trade language in Southern China and Hongkong. (4) he more better takee two piecee coolie along he. “He’d better take two coolies with him.”

16. Expanded Pidgin

17. The use of pidgin is extended into wider areas. For example,as the everyday lingua franca in a multilingual community, and even as a language used in religion and government. As a result, the language expands over time in its vocabulary and grammar, and becomes what is fittingly called expanded pidgin. Melanesian Pidgin, which expanded when it became an important lingua franca after returned plantation labourers brought it back to their multilingual home countries. Thus, the example of Bislama in (1) i that of an expanded pidgin. It has its own writing system and it is used widely not only for communication between people who have different mother tongues but also in radio broadcasting, parliamentary debates and religious context.

18. Creole

19. People in mixed community use a pidgin on a daily basis, and some of them shift to it as their primary language, which they speak through their children. Thus, children growing up in this context acquire the expanded pidgin as their mother tongue or first language and it becomes their community language. At this stage, the language is then a creole. Like any other vernacular, a creole has a large vocabulary and a complex set of grammatical rules and is not at all restricted in use, having complete range of informal functions.

20. This scenario occurred frequently among plantation slaves in the Caribbean, resulting in the English-lexified and French-lexified creoles that are still spoken there. Another example is Kriol, spoken in the Northern Territory and Kimberley region of Australia. This creole is thought to have emerged when people speaking different Australian Aboriginal languages took refuge at a mission station to escape from settlers who were killing Aboriginal people in order to set up cattle stations on their land. Olda ol-bibul bin oldei lenim melabat. PL old-people PAST CONTINUOUS teach us (EXCLUSIVE) ‘The old people were always teaching us.’

21. Another example of creole is Chavacano. It refers to a number of Spanish-based creole language varieties spoken in Zamboanga City, located in the southern Philippine island group of Mindanao, has the highest concentration of speakers. It is the only Spanish-based creole in Asia. The word “Chavacano” derived from Spanish, roughly meaning “ poor taste” or “vulgar”, though the term itself carries no negative connotations to contemporary speakers and has lost its original Spanish meaning.

22. Current status and use

23. Restricted Pidgins have arisen in many areas of the world. But because these languages are often short lived and, as their label shows, restricted in use, it is difficult to determine their numbers. Some examples of now extinct restricted pidgins are Pidgin French of Vietnam and Pidgin Hawaiian. Currently used restricted pidgins include Pidgin Fijian and Pidgin Hindustani in Fiji.

24. On the other hand, it is known that there are currently over 50 different expanded pidgins or creoles spoken by an estimated 123 million people. More than 101 million people speak expanded pidgins, with Nigerian Pidgin being the largest( an estimated 80 million speakers). Nigerian Pidgin, Cameroon Pidgin, and Melanesian Pidgin are all lexified by English.

25. More than 23.1 million people speak creoles, approximately lexified by French, 6.5 million by English, 4.7 million by African languages, 1.5 million by Portuguese or Spanish and 0.4 by other languages. Haitan creole is the largest approximately 7.4 million speakers(lexified by French), followed by Jamaican creole approximately by 3.2 million ( lexified by English)

26. Millions of speakers of expanded pidgins or creoles have also migrated to the United States, Canada, Britain, France and Netherlands. For example, there are as many as one million speakers of Haitian Creole in the United States.(Joseph 1997) Immigrants speaking an expanded pidgin or creole are of course minorities in their adopted countries.

27. Some P/C -speaking communities are also minority in the country where they originated. For example, those speaking Gullah and Louisiana Creole in the United States and Kriol in Australia. In other places, P/C speakers are the majority in particular state or territory, but a minority in the country as a whole- for example in Papua New Guinea(PNG), Solomon Islands and Vanuatu in the Pacific; Mauritius, Réunion and the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.

28. Nevertheless, in nearly all of these places P/C is spoken only in informal contexts- at the market or among family and friends- while a different language is used for formal contexts, such as government, education, and the legal system.

29. Advantages of using P/Cs in educational program

30. Although the awareness programmes just described make use of students’ vernaculars in the classroom, evaluations do not show any evidence of interference retarding acquisitions of the standard language of the education system. Rather the evaluations, like those for programmes using P/cs to teach initial literacy, demonstrate positive advantages: Higher scores in tests measuring reading and writing skills in standard English and increases in overall academic achievement. The particular benefits of using P/Cs that account for these results appear to be related to three possible factors affecting students: Greater cognitive development Increased motivation and self-esteem and Ability to separate codes and notice differences

31. First, it is well-known that children’s self-expression is facilitated in a familiar language, especially without fear of correction and that children are clearly disadvantaged when they are not allowed to express themselves in their own variety of language. This is because may be prerequisite for cognitive development. Second, most theories of SLA agree that the affective variables of learner motivation, attitudes, self-confidence and anxiety have some effect on L2 attainment . As Skutnabb-Kangas (1988:29) points out, when the child’s mother tongue is valued in the educational setting, it leads to low anxiety, high motivation and high self-confidence, three factors that are closely related to successful educational programmes.

32. The third factor benefiting students’ performance is the ability to separate codes and notice differences. Using P/Cs in educational programmes may also make learners aware of differences between it and the standard that they may not otherwise notice. According to Schmidt's ‘noticing hypothesis’ (1990,1993), attention to target language forms is necessary for acquisition; these forms will not be acquired unless they are noticed. It appears that in contrastive component of awareness programmes, looking at features of their own varieties compared to the standard helps students to notice features of the standard that are different, which is the first step of acquisition.

33. Although some of the research on pidgin and creole languages is very technical and theoretical , there is much that is relevant for teachers especially those who have students who do not always use standard English. First of all, their students’ ways of speaking may reflect another legitimate, rule-governed variety of language, rather than laziness or lack of intelligence. Second, their students’ language may vary significantly depending on the formality of the context and the interlocutors. Third, and most important, students learn best when their own way of speaking is valued and included in the educational process.

34. Thus, although it may seem counter intuitive to allow students to use or talk about a non-standard dialect or a P/C in the classroom, such practices have many educational benefits- including helping students to acquire the standard. And finally, classroom discussions of varieties of language,such as pidgins and creoles, and language diversity in general, will not only be interesting to students, but it will also help them to better understand themselves and the linguistic world we live in.