Pidgin and Creole

Definition of pidgin and creole

Right off the bat, it's worth noting that pidgins and creoles are two separate things, even though they may be closely related.

Whereas:

Some common examples of Creoles include:

• Haitian creole - French-based

• Jamaican Patois - English-based

• Reunionese - French-based

Difference between pidgin and creole

As demonstrated by the above definitions, pidgins and creoles do share some characteristics. However, they are their own distinct entities and therefore have differences.

The main differences between pidgins and creoles include:

• Pidgins are not spoken as a native language by any country, whereas many countries have creoles that are native languages.

• Pidgins have very basic grammar, whereas creoles have much more complex and full grammar.

• Pidgins tend to have limited vocabularies, whereas creoles are much more extended.

• Pidgins are considered reduced forms of other languages, whereas creoles have developed into fully-fledged languages of their own.

As we continue to move through this article, you'll get a better sense of the distinctions between pidgins and creoles, and we'll also look at some examples of each.

Characteristics of pidgins and creoles

We've already looked at some differences between pidgins and creoles, but here are the main defining characteristics of each type of language:

Characteristics of pidgins

• Generally have limited vocabulary

• Simplified grammar

• Use many onomatopoeias (words that sound like the thing they are referring to, e.g., 'bang', 'slap', 'woosh', 'sizzle')

• Consonant clusters often get simplified (e.g., instead of pronouncing all the sounds in the phrase 'best player', the pidgin pronunciation might be 'bes player' where the /t/ is dropped from the '-st' consonant cluster)

• Not typically a native language of any country, but spoken as a second language

• Commonly seen as being low prestige language varieties

• Simplified sentence and phrase structures

• Linguistic characteristics such as gender and number (singular and plural forms) are often non-existent.

Characteristics of Creoles

• Fully developed grammar

• Extensive vocabulary

• Full, native languages that have derived from pidgins

• Most commonly viewed as vernacular languages, although in countries where they are widely used, they are viewed as having higher prestige

• Most creoles are born of contact between European and native languages, and creoles might include some words and structures from European languages (such as French and Portuguese). That said, not all creoles are based on European languages. For example, Betawi is a Malay-based creole with no European influence.

Pidgin and creole examples

Remember, pidgin and creole are types of language that develop as a means of communication between groups who do not share a common language. As such, there are many examples throughout history that have been recorded or noted.

Examples of Pidgin languages include:

• Madras Bashai - a dialect of Tamil with influences from Indian English, Telugu, Malayalam, Burmese, and Hindustani, spoken in the region of Chennai (India).

• Algonquian-Basque Pidgin – a Basque-based pidgin with influences from the indigenous language, Algonquian, used by Basque whalers and Algonquin communities in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (Canada) up to the 1710s.

• Settla Swahili – a pidgin derived from English with Swahili influences, used by English-speaking European colonists to communicate with Swahili people in Kenya and Zambia.

• Labrador-Inuit Pidgin French – a French-based pidgin with influences from Breton, Basque, and local Inuit languages, spoken in Labrador (Canada) until the 1760s as a means of communication between the two groups.

Examples of Creole languages include:

• Bungi Creole – developed from pidgins of Scottish English, Scottish Gaelic, French, Norn, Cree, and Ojibwe. Bungi Creole is spoken in what is now known as Manitoba, Canada.

• Michif - based on a combination of Cree and Métis French with influences from English and neighbouring Indigenous languages, spoken by the Métis people in various Canadian provinces including Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Ontario.

• Kituba - National language in the Democratic Republic of Congo, based on a Bantu language called Kikongo.

• Haitian Creole – widely spoken as a first language in Haiti, largely based on French with influences from Portuguese, Spanish, English, Taino, and West African languages.

Examples of pidgin phrases:

One example of a pidgin phrase is the Algonquian-Basque Pidgin.

Another is Settla Swahili.

Examples of creole phrase:

Kituba is a clear example of a creole phrase from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Another example is Haitian Creole.

Pidgin and creole Languages

Why are pidgins and creoles important lanaguages?

History

While reading this article, you might have picked up on some significant identifiers for pidgins and creoles.

For instance, most creoles were formed due to the slave trade during colonial times in the 17th and 18th centuries when European countries such as Spain, France, and Britain colonised different parts of the world (most notably, Northern America, or 'The New World', Africa and Asia).

When enslaved people were taken from different countries, they wouldn't have shared a common language. By learning and amalgamating the most basic structures and vocabulary of each other's languages, enslaved people from different places could begin to communicate with one another. These makeshift languages born out of necessity were pidgins.

As further generations continued using these pidgins, expanding upon them, and developing their vocabulary and grammar, they evolved into creoles.

Pidgins formed the basis of many creoles formed during colonial times and were significantly influenced by the language of the colonisers. Assimilating parts of the coloniser's language enabled enslaved people to survive. Many creoles were also influenced by indentured servants.

For example, African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is a dialect spoken predominantly by African American communities in the USA.

Creolisation

Creolisation is a concept closely linked to the language variety and refers to:

What role does creolisation play in history?

The most obvious example of creolisation is the slave trade, where people from different parts of the world were brought to different countries as slaves. As groups of people from different cultures and nationalities were brought to a certain country during colonial times, the interaction between these groups lead to the gradual creation of new cultures and languages (creoles). This is creolisation.

Creolisation can be seen in more recent history too.

After the apartheid regime was overturned and segregation began to reduce, the 'coloured' population became accepted as a more complex creole community due to the work of Zimitri Erasmus in 2001¹. Erasmus stated that:

Pidgins and creoles: culture and identity

Language is so closely intertwined with one's identity. In the same way that you need to learn about dialects, sociolects, idiolects, and ethnolects, learning about pidgins and creoles is a great way to understand identity even more.

Communities of all different kinds, all over the world, use language to connect with each other and with other communities. Shared language is one of the key factors that bond people, as language use is often heavily influenced by social factors such as race, ethnicity, age, interests, region, education, and occupation.

Recognising pidgins and creoles as significant language forms enables the populations that speak them to embrace their cultural and social ties to these languages, and subsequently strengthen their sense of identity – be that individual identity or community identity.