Creole languages
Creole languages are fully developed languages that emerge as a means of communication between people from different linguistic backgrounds, primarily when a common language is absent. They typically originate from simplified languages known as pidgins, which evolve into complex systems with rich vocabularies and grammatical structures over time. The development of creole languages often traces back to the interactions between European colonizers and native populations, beginning in the sixteenth century. While pidgins are often short-lived, creoles can persist across generations, becoming native languages for many communities.
The term "creole" historically referred to individuals of European descent born in the colonies but later came to denote the languages that arose from these cross-cultural encounters. Common features of creole languages include the incorporation of elements from multiple source languages, simplified verb conjugations, and unique idiomatic expressions. Examples of notable creole languages include Haitian Creole, Louisiana Creole, and Gullah, each reflecting the historical and cultural contexts of their respective regions. Today, creoles remain an important aspect of linguistic diversity, spoken in various parts of the world, particularly in areas influenced by colonial history.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Creole languages
Creole languages are languages that started as a makeshift way for people of two cultures without a common language to communicate. They are complete languages that usually contain a blend of two or more languages. Although they develop from simplified languages known as pidgins, creoles have complex structures and well-developed vocabularies. They are spoken by multiple generations of a people. Many of these languages developed beginning in the sixteenth century when European explorers visited other lands and began doing business with people with whom they did not share a common language. Some of these languages have persisted and remain accepted languages in the twenty-first century.
Background
The word creole dates to the 1600s, when it was derived by colonizers from Spain and Portugal and used to refer to the people born in their colonies who had Spanish, Portuguese, or African ancestry. The French would take the word and use it to refer to people of African or European descent born in their colonies. Creole comes from the Latin creare, which means "to produce, create." This became the root of the Latin word criar, which meant "to raise or bring up." From this came the Spanish word criollo, meaning "a person native to a locality," and the Portuguese crioulo, meaning "a person raised in one's house" and often referred to a household servant.
Although the word originally referred to groups of people, it was adopted to refer to a language for the first time in 1685. French explorer Michel Jajolet wrote a book about his journey along the African coast in which he described an improvised language used by the people of Senegal. He referred to the version of Portuguese he heard as creole.
From there, the term was applied to a number of languages that developed in European colonies during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In most cases, these languages were a combination of European and native tongues. They usually developed from pidgin languages, which are improvised languages that arise when two or more groups of people who do not share a language attempt to communicate. These languages use simplified sentence structures, generally omit verb tenses and any indication of gender or number with nouns, and may incorporate made up or onomatopoeic words (words that are also sounds, such as bang) to convey meaning.
Initially these pidgin languages had limited vocabularies and were used for very specific purposes, such as allowing two groups to trade or enabling plantation owners to communicate with their workers. In many cases, either the need for pidgin communication would come to an end (the explorers would move on, for instance) or one of the groups would learn the other's language. Sometimes, however, the language would persist and even grow, adding more and more words and a defined syntax and structure. When a second generation is taught a pidgin language as one of the culture's native languages, it is a creole language.
Overview
While creole languages developed in a number of different areas and over time, they have some common characteristics. Creoles incorporate aspects of both of the languages on which they are based, mixing words in sentences or even combining words from each to make a new word. They have vocabularies of at least one thousand to three thousand words, with some having significantly more. They develop similar ways of conjugating verbs and often use simple inflection to indicate whether a sentence is a statement or a question. Many creoles also use repeated words to indicate emphasis or convey a specific meaning, such as "listen well well," to mean "pay attention" and "talk talk" to mean "chatter."
Creole languages can sometimes sound like they are being spoken by children just learning a language, or like a broken form of one of the original languages. This is because they often use unusual word combinations to convey their meaning. For instance, a person speaking a creole language who wants to say they have to pay their rent may say they have to pay their "house money."
The tendency of creole languages to omit tenses when using verbs adds to this effect. For instance, "I'm going to work now," may become "go dat work now," in creole. In other cases, creole sounds like slang to people who speak one of the original languages on which it is based because it uses completely made up words and phrases, such as "dat brok da mout," or "that broke the mouth" for something that is delicious.
While pidgin languages tend to die out after a few decades, those that persist and become creoles can last for much longer. In some cases, they remain less changed than the languages upon which they are based. For example, while French has modernized since the eighteenth century among native French speakers, those who speak a creole that was based on eighteenth century French may still use words that were part of the older version of French that have since fallen out of use.
In the twenty-first century, creole languages are spoken in a number of locations, many of which are in the areas of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans that were colonized by Europeans centuries ago. Some of the best-known creoles include Hawaiian Pidgin, which despite its name is a creole that incorporates elements of English, Polynesian, and other languages; and Gullah, an African American creole spoken primarily in the Sea Islands near South Carolina.
Well-known creole languages are also spoken in Haiti (Haitian Creole), Louisiana (Louisiana Creole), Jamaica, and a number of areas in Africa.
Bibliography
Bickerton, Derek. "Creole Languages." Ohio University, HYPERLINK "http://www.alsintl.com/resources/languages/Creole/" www.alsintl.com/resources/languages/Creole/. Accessed 17 June 2017.
"Creole." Accredited Language Services, YPERLINK "http://www.alsintl.com/resources/languages/Creole/" www.alsintl.com/resources/languages/Creole/. Accessed 17 June 2017.
"Gullah Language Thrives in 21st Century." African American Registry, HYPERLINK "http://www.aaregistry.org/historic‗events/view/gullah-language-thrives-21st-century" www.aaregistry.org/historic‗events/view/gullah-language-thrives-21st-century. Accessed 17 June 2017.
Laddaran, Kerry Chan. "Pidgin English Now an Official Language of Hawaii." CNN, 12 Nov. 2015, ERLINK "http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/12/living/pidgin-english-hawaii/index.html" www.cnn.com/2015/11/12/living/pidgin-english-hawaii/index.html. Accessed 17 June 2017.
"Pidgins and Creoles." Duisburg-Essen University, HYPERLINK "http://www.uni-due.de/SVE/VARS‗PidginsAndCreoles.htm" www.uni-due.de/SVE/VARS‗PidginsAndCreoles.htm. Accessed 17 June 2017.
Schiffman, Harold. "Pidgin and Creole Languages." University of Pennsylvania, 25 Mar. 1997, INK "http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/messeas/handouts/pjcreol/node1.html" ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/messeas/handouts/pjcreol/node1.html. Accessed 17 June 2017.
Thompson, Irene. "Creole Languages." About World Languages, HYPERLINK "http://aboutworldlanguages.com/creole-languages" aboutworldlanguages.com/creole-languages. Accessed 17 June 2017.
Thompson, Irene and Jon Phillips. "Pidgin Languages." About World Languages, 18 Apr. 2013, HYPERLINK "http://aboutworldlanguages.com/pidgin-languages" aboutworldlanguages.com/pidgin-languages. Accessed 17 June 2017.
"What Is Pidgin?" University of Hawaii, HYPERLINK "http://sls.hawaii.edu/pidgin/whatIsPidgin.php" sls.hawaii.edu/pidgin/whatIsPidgin.php. Accessed 17 June 2017.