Pidgin (language)
Pidgin languages are simplified forms of communication that emerge when groups of people with no common language come together, often due to trade, exploration, or cultural exchange. These languages typically draw from multiple sources but are distinct from the native languages of the speakers. Pidgins are characterized by their limited vocabulary, usually around three hundred words, and a simplified grammatical structure, lacking the complexities found in fully developed languages. They serve specific functions, such as facilitating trade, and often reflect the immediate needs of the speakers.
Historically, pidgins became more common during the Age of Exploration from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries, as European explorers encountered various cultures. While many pidgins have developed based on European languages, others have roots in local languages in regions like Africa and Southeast Asia. As globalization advances, the use of pidgins has declined, with fewer than twenty established pidgins remaining globally. If a pidgin is used long enough for a community to adopt it as a first language, it evolves into a creole, which is more complex and has native speakers. Examples of existing pidgins include Nigerian Pidgin English, Chinook Wawa in Canada, and Hawaiian Pidgin, the latter of which is recognized as a creole due to its broader usage.
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Pidgin (language)
A pidgin is what language experts call a language used by two or more groups of people who do not have a common language among them. Pidgins incorporate parts of these languages but are distinct from the native languages. These language forms often develop when cultures come together for the first time due to exploration, trade, or travel. As the parties attempt to communicate, they patch together gestures, words, and sounds to create the basis of a pidgin.
Background
The word pidgin first appeared in print around 1850. It is believed to have resulted from a Chinese mispronunciation of the English word business. This may have happened because makeshift pidgin languages were often used in trade and other business transactions between two unfamiliar cultures. Another theory is that explorers used a makeshift language to communicate with a South American tribe of this name. The name was then applied to the language the two groups used.
People have likely found rudimentary ways to communicate verbally for as long as formal languages have existed, but many pidgins arose during the Age of Exploration, which lasted from the fifteenth century to the eighteenth century. As Europeans traveled throughout the world, they encountered many groups of people with whom they did not share a common language. Their efforts to communicate became pidgins. Some of these pidgins were used and expanded upon, while others were used only during one or two encounters.
As European countries began colonizing different parts of the world, more pidgins developed. Most of these were based on the languages of the powerful colonizing countries including England, France, Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands. However, in places such as Africa and Southeast Asia, pidgins developed based on languages spoken in those areas.
Pidgins continue to be spoken in many areas around the world, though the number of people speaking them is dwindling. It is estimated there are around fifteen established pidgins left. There are known pidgins in parts of Africa, India, Canada, South America, Asia, and Australia.
One of the reasons pidgins are diminishing is because it is now easier to find an interpreter, or a person who can speak both languages and help translate the conversation. Another reason is that it is more likely people will have a common language that can be used. For instance, if a native French speaker and a native Chinese speaker need to communicate but neither knows the other's language, they might both know another language, such as English.
In this case, English becomes a lingua franca, a common language that can be used to communicate. In addition to the fact that a lingua franca is an existing language, the next most significant difference between a pidgin and a lingua franca is that a lingua franca has native speakers while a pidgin does not. Once a pidgin becomes a first language for a group of people, it is known as a creole. Creoles are more developed pidgins that have native speakers and generally more extensive vocabularies and wider usages.
Overview
Pidgin languages are those that develop spontaneously when two or more groups who do not speak a common language come together and attempt to communicate. They are generally very simple languages of around three hundred words that are often limited to specific aspects of life. For instance, a pidgin developed for the purposes of trade between two groups may include words for money and the items to be traded but have few if any words for objects or behaviors not related to trade. In contrast, creoles have thousands of words, and full languages have tens of thousands of words.
New pidgin languages are sometimes compared to the developing speech of young children because of their simplified structure. There is often little use of verb tenses, and nouns and pronouns are not usually differentiated for gender or number. Additionally, the syntax is often very different from standard languages. For example, in a Nigerian pidgin "How you dey?" means "How are you?" Pidgins often use onomatopoeic words, or words that imitate sounds, as well. For example, woof might become the word for dog. Pidgins also repeat words to convey a special meaning or emphasize a point. In the same pidgin form from Nigeria, "Listen well well" means "Pay attention."
Because of their unsophisticated nature, pidgins may sound like "baby talk" or slang to people who speak one of the languages upon which it is based. For example, the use of phrases such as "I no no" for "I don't know" and "gi me" for "give me" resembles the way small children talk, while "Brok da mout" or "Broke the mouth," meaning "That's delicious," seems to be a slang expression. The informal sound and lack of sophistication means that pidgins have often been looked down upon.
Many pidgins die out within a few decades. This may be because the reason they were created no longer exists, or because the parties involved learn each other's native languages. Therefore, there is rarely any written form of a pidgin language. If the need for the language continues long enough that a second generation begins to use it, the language ceases to be a pidgin and becomes a creole.
There are a number of pidgins still in use in the twenty-first century. These include a version of pidgin English used in Nigeria, a Chinese-English pidgin known as Chinglish, the Maroon Spirit language spoken by Jamaican Maroons, a pidgin used in parts of Canada called Chinook Wawa, and a pidgin spoken in regions of Australia.
In 2015, the US government recognized Hawaiian Pidgin as an official language. This was done after reviewing the results of a census of more than 325,000 bilingual Hawaiians. While the language is called Hawaiian Pidgin, language experts generally consider it a creole because its use has extended beyond the generation that first developed it.
Bibliography
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"What Is Pidgin?" University of Hawaii, sls.hawaii.edu/pidgin/whatIsPidgin.php. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.