Contact linguistics

1

• Contact linguistics when languages come into
  contact
• Pidgin a language created by people to
  communicate (usually for commerce). Usually uses
  the lexical items from the dominant language
  (superstrate) (colonizing language like English,
  Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, French) and uses
  other aspects of grammar from the native
  languages where the pidgin occurs (substrate
  languages). Always acquired as a second
  language, and is relatively transparent and
  simplistic. Where pidgins are used are limited
  usually in the marketplace.
• Creole the development of a pidgin when spoken
  as a first/native language by children. At this
  point, the language becomes more complex as it
  evolves. The use of creoles are expanded to all
  aspects of social life (at home, in the church,
  as well as in the marketplace).

2

• Lingua Franca a common language that speakers
  use to communicate
• Greek koine, vulgar Latin, Chinook jargon,
  English today
• Pidgin a contact language that does not have
  native speakers (can serve as a lingua franca).
• Social and cultural phenomenon - product of
  multilingual contact
• 3 or more languages usually make up a pidgin
• Need social difference (1 lang more dominant -
  usually used as lexifier (where the words come
  from))
• Very negative reactions to pidgin as lesser
  variety of the dominant (superstrate) language
• Used for limited reasons - usually for trade -
  not used in all aspects of life
• Pidgin involves a more transparent lang system -
  simplified syntax, morphological and phonological
  structure

3
Ch 3 - Pidgins and Creoles

• Creole when a pidgin has advanced and becomes
  the first language of speakers it is a creole
• Some (Tok Pisin and Nigerian Pidgin Eng) exist as
  both a pidgin and creole at the same time
• Creole is more complex with expansion of
  morphology and syntax including irregular forms
  as well as increase in number of functions
  language is used for (to talk to family members
  as well as trade)

4
Ch 3 - Pidgins and Creoles

• Pidgins and Creoles are socially created
  languages - usually around the slave trade.
• English, Dutch, Portuguese, French and Spanish
  are the most common pidgin/creole bases
• These are not simply L2 varieties of these
  languages, but really different languages - you
  would have to learn as if you were to learn
  Icelandic
• See discussion on p. 66 for Tok Pisin examples

5
Pidgins and Creoles
Solomon Islands Pidjin
2. Steretwe taem Jisas i go soa, 2. When he had stepped out of the boat,
wanfela man wea i stap long berigiraon i kamaot fo mitim hem. immediately a man out of the tombs met him.
Desfala man ia devol nogud i stap long hem. This man was possessed by an unclean spirit.
3. Ples bulong hem nao long berigiraon. 3. He lived in the cemetery
Bikos hem i karangge tumas, and no-one could restrain him any more, even with chains,
no man i save taemapim. because he was too strong.
4. Plande taem olketa i hankapem han an lek bulong hem, 4. For he had often been restrained with shackles and chains on his arms and legs,
bat hem i smasing olketa nomoa. but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces,
No man i storong fitim fo holem. and no one had the strength to subdue him.
6
Pidgins and Creoles
Pidgin Creole
Contact language that arose naturally Yes Yes
Has native speakers Not usually Always
Linguistic form and grammar are... Reduced Expanded
Restricted in contexts of use Yes No
Stable and independent norms No Yes
Fully adequate natural language No Yes
7

• Pidgins/creoles with same European lexifier
  language are somewhat mutually intelligible
• Some consider them to be this way because they
  are just dumbed-down version of that language
  (not the best explanation)
• Polygenesis - similarities arise from shared
  circumstances of creation, but the many
  pidgins/creoles come from many different sources
• Maybe they are similar due to the same substrate
  (the native languages that the p/c is based on)
• Monogenetic theories of origin - all from one
  source (all from one P/C and variation has
  occurred in different regions)
• Relexified single source - all from one pidgin
  and each modern pidgin has just put in new words
  into the same structure using whatever European
  language was in contact
• P/Cs have often similar grammatical structure but
  different vocabularies

8

• Bickerton - Language Bioprogram hypothesis -
  universal principles of first lang acquisition
  are involved
• Creoles are the clearest and most pure forms of
  language that represent innate language abilities
  since there is no current model to choose from

9

• Not all pidgins become creoles! Some die out
• Tok Pisin example - acquired as first language
  and expanded linguistic forms (p. 75)
• As a sign of the new culture - became a language
  of identity
• Used in many domains - government, religion,
  education
• Reduction and assimilation in phonetics are found
  in creole (not so much in pidgin)
• Because we know the origins of a creole is how we
  know it is any different than any other language

10

• A continuum may form if there is continual
  contact with lexifier language
• Decreolization when some varieties of the creole
  develop more toward the lexifier language (look
  more like English for example)
• Jamaican situation is this continuum (See Table
  3.1 on page 82)
• http//ccat.sas.upenn.edu/haroldfs/540/handouts/p
  ijcreol/continuum.html
• Diglossic situation 2 varieties are kept
  socially and functionally apart (can be true of
  bilingual situations too) with one being more
  prestigious than the other (Haiti)
• Jamaica has changed and Jamaican Creole has been
  gaining covert prestige
• Creoles show the same relationship between
  standard and non-standard varieties of the same
  language - correct vs. pleasant perceptual diffs