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2S03 > Chapter 3 - Pidgins and Creoles > Flashcards

Chapter 3 - Pidgins and Creoles Flashcards

1
Q

a couple decades ago how were pidgins, creoles and Lingua Francas viewed by speakers of ‘full’ languages

A
  • corrupt versions of full languages
  • Linguistically ‘uninteresting’
  • considered speakers of pidgins and creoles as mentally handicapped
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2
Q

What does pidgin mean in chinese

A

bussiness

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3
Q

why are pidgins and creoles important

A
  • Essential to everyday living of speakers
  • Markers of identity
  • Rapid change of languages within a year to create a new language
  • clues about L. origin & change
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4
Q

Define Lingua Franca

A

Language used habitually by people whose mother tongues are different in order to facilitate communication between them (a FUNCTION of a L, any L can be a lingua Franca)

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5
Q

Give example of a Lingua Franca being created

A

→ A nun from Britain who spoke French and English
→ A priest wanted to help but only spoke italian
→ They didn’t share a language but they both knew Latin because they were Catholic

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6
Q

Other names for lingua Francas

A

o A trade language
o A contact language
o n international language
o An auxiliary language (Basic English)

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7
Q

Give example of a mixed language

A

Michif - mix of cree and maiti french

- has 500 speakers

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8
Q

Example of Lingua Francas

A

ex. 1 Vulgar Latin
ex. 2 Sabir - used in Mediterranean, originating in the middle ages. based on northern italian dialects (mixture of spanish and french)

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9
Q

Is lingua franca a type of language

A

NO it’s a function of a language

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10
Q

Lingua francas show what two types of variation?

ex?

A

Individual & regional variation
ex.1 English in india
2 swahili in east africa

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11
Q

Explain what happened to Swahili in Africa

A
  • native language of coast than spread in land
    o It was used only to fulfill certain purposes
    o underwent Reduction of functions and simplification of grammar
    o Then spread towards Rwanda and Sudan and was further simplified/ reduced
    o Finally swahili on the coast was unintelligible to speakers in land
  • Shows that Swahili is used as a lingua Franca but also a simplified version called a pidgin
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12
Q

Explain the Chinook Jargon example of Lingua Francas

A

Chinook was spoken on the coast, but a few km inland on the plains spoke plain sign language because because using sign language you can speak from far distances

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13
Q

What is a pidgin

A
  • A language with no native speakers
  • contact language caused by a multilingual situation caused by the need to communicate
  • Simple system
  • Characterized by imbalance of power (more codified language has power - european vs. native)
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14
Q

What are pidgins often viewed as

A
  • reduced versions of a normal language
  • tolerant to vast variation
  • “bad’ english
  • baby talk
    NOT TRUE
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15
Q

What is a superstratum and substratum?

A

Superstratum - dominant language( more codified) that vocab is pulled from to form a pidgin
substratum - local language which provides syntactic frame

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16
Q

how many languages involved in pidgins

A

2(causes struggle in dominance) or 3 (2 inferior, one dominant)

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17
Q

Where do pidgins exist?

A
  • In slave societies
  • On sea costs
  • As Lingua Francas
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18
Q

Do pidgins have rules?

A

YES - but they are fewer and simplified

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19
Q

Example of a short lived pidgin

A

Turkish workers came to Germany and a pidginized variety was created only used in 60s-70s

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20
Q

What evidence supports the claim that pidgin languages signal only a minimum of grammatical information explicitly

A
  • Fewer inflections
  • lack of morphological endings
  • repeating info in pronouns
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21
Q

What is a Creole

A
  • a pidgin that became the first language of a new generation
  • normal language
  • Expanded vocabulary & Grammar
  • A wider range of functions (not just for a certain task)
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22
Q

Can a language be both a pidgin and a creole?

A

YES - same language can be spoken by adults as pidgins and by children as a creole. There is no clear line

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23
Q

What is an extended pidgin

A
  • intermediate variety characteristic of urban centers

ex. Israel

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24
Q

Do all pidgins become creoles?

A

NO

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25
Q

examples of creoles

A

1) Jamaican creole based on english

2) Haition creole based on french

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26
Q

Define Pidginization

A
  • Reduction in morphology & syntax
  • allow variation
  • Reduction in functions
  • lexical borrowing from local Ls
  • innovation and regularization of structures
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27
Q

Define Creolization

A

(reverse of pidginization)

  • Expansion of the morphology & syntax
  • Process of creating a new linguistic system from a pidgins (not necessarily towards standard L)
  • Regularization of phonology (less tolerant of variance)
  • Increased functions (household language)
  • Increase in vocabulary (borrowed or created)
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28
Q

What is the middle step between pidgin and creales

A

extended pidgins

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29
Q

who forms creoles, how fast?

A

children, a couple generations

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30
Q

where are pidgins most often spoken?

A
  • on the coast (never inland)
  • around the equatorial belt (none in extremely southern or northern places)
  • near native populations
  • not in middle of countries
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31
Q

what are the 5 historical origins (factors that contributed to the need of creating pidgins and creoles)

A

1) Slavery
2) Trade
3) european settlement
4) War
5) labour migration

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32
Q

4 large groups of creoles?

A
  • carribean
  • west african
  • near indian ocean
  • near pacific ocean
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33
Q

Factor 1: slavery - explain.

A
  • europeans imported slaves from the african west coast to south/north america (new world) using a triangular system of importation
  • exchanged slaves for fur, cotton, fire arms, alcohol
  • salve coast on african boarder spoke a L very distant from standard
  • from africa they got tobacco, sugar, coffee, molasses
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34
Q

What were the 2 types of communication during slavery?

A

→ Horizontal: communication between two slaves

→ Vertical: Communication between slaves and their masters

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35
Q

where were the fort pidgins created during savory

A
  • plantations where they worked in north america or on the way to america
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36
Q

Explain factor 2: trade

A

trading activities where
- Several ling groups are involved
- Interpreters are unavailable
• Ex. Naga Pidgin – being creolized by children in north eastern india

37
Q

Explain Factor 3: European settlement

A
  • moving to a new area quite peacefully
    • Papua New Guinea, China, India, East Africa
    • communication between europeans and native populations
38
Q

Give example of a pidgin formed through european settlement

A

ex. Fanakolo (Fanagolo)
- a pidgin spoken in south Africa that originated after contact with English speakers and Zulus
- Used today in the mines - - no sign of creolization, exists there as long as there are mines
- Structurally close to English, vocab from other languages

39
Q

Explain factor 4: War

A
  • american wars in asia, japan, vietnam etc.
  • military action resulted in an unstable pidgin
  • only there while american soldiers were there
  • called Bamboo english
  • some scholars say its not a pidgin
40
Q

Explain factor 5: Labour Migration

A
  • Accelerated contact through employment in major urban centers
  • cause need for communication
41
Q

Example of pidgin formed through labour migration

A
  • E.g. Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea
  • most healthy pidgin in world
  • Healthy urban centers is the West and middle East
42
Q

how can we group pidgins/creoles

A

By the superstratum (full language)

43
Q

Examples of English based pidgins/creoles

A

(know a 2/3)

1) sea island creole - spoken in islands off the coast of florida
2) Krio - spoken in sierra leona
3) Chinese pidgin english - spoken in China
4) Hawaiian creole - spoken in Hawaii

44
Q

how many french based

example?

A

15
- Louisiana creole - spoken in the united states
- Haitian creole - spoken in the Caribbean
-Seyshells creole -
Moritonian creole

45
Q

How many Portugese based creoles, examples?

A

14
*Papiamentu - spoken in Aruba
Senegal - in africa

46
Q

Whats interesting about Caribbean area?

A
  • colonizers speaking different languages
  • language switched ownership
  • standard/official language is different from the language which creoles are based on
47
Q

What types of pidgins are in the carabbean

A

Extremely diverse, Full range: portugese, french, dutch, english based creoels

48
Q

how can the creole spoken in Caribbean be explained

A

who conquered who

49
Q

What are some linguistic characteristics of pidgins

A
  • well-organized structured linguistic systems
  • Pidgins are easier to learn then full languages because the systems are simpler
  • its not just a language simplified
50
Q

What is the Sound system of Pidgins

example?

A
  • Fewer and less complicated sounds
  • Lack of some contrasts that full languages have
    ex. tok pisin: no contrast between long and short vowels ( instead they duplicate the word = sipsip)
  • morphophonemic variation
51
Q

Describe the Morphology of Pidgins and creoles

A
  • Lack of inflection nouns
  • No case markings
  • some suffixes (transitivity marker - im)
  • some tense markers in E-based
    ex. Tok pisin ‘pinis’ - meaning the action is finished
52
Q

Describe Syntax of pidgins and creoles

A

-Uncomplicated clausal structure:
-Absence of relative clauses
-Simple negative particles ( no in E-based, pa in F-based Creoles):
oI no tu had < It’s not too hard (Krio)
-Pre-verbal particles
oA de go wok - I am going to work, (Krio)

53
Q

Why do pidgin speakers with different superstratums have such striking similarities

A

Because they have the same underlying processes

54
Q

Describe vocabulary of pidgins and creoles

A
  • Similarity to the lexicon of the superstratum
  • Smaller size
  • Re-shaped word forms
55
Q

Define Polysemy.

example?

A

when the same word has several different meanings

ex. Camaroon: water - lake, sweat, rain

56
Q

Define Multi-functionality.

example?

A

when the same word fulfils a number of functions

tok pisin: Sik - a sickness, a disease or it can be an intransitive or transitive verb.

57
Q

Define Circumlocution.

example

A

Paraphrasing using multiple words

ex. grass belong face = beard

58
Q

Define Compounding.

example

A

1) To indicate abstractions
ex. Big maus = conceited
2) To indicate gender
ex. Hos meri = female horse

59
Q

Define Reduplication

A

Repeating the root of a word to add intensity, plurality, duration and frequency
ex. camaroon: Fain ‘lovely’ and fainfain ‘verylovely

60
Q

What are the 5 stylistic devices

A

1) polysemy
2) Multi-functionality
3) circumlocution
4) compounding
5) reduplication

61
Q

How do the origins of pidgins differ from historical origins

A

They are linguistic theories of how pidgins originate

62
Q

What are the 3 categories of theories of pidgin origins?

A

1) Theories of independent parallel development
2) monogenetic theories
3) Linguistic universals

63
Q

In the theory of parallel development, explain polygenisis theory

A
  • pidgins start in multiple places but through Similar circumstances (2 groups can’t communicate, and one is dominant) leads to similar results
  • Similarity of the dominant European Languages
  • Similarity of many native/ substratum Languages
    ex. west african L in the atlantic
64
Q

In the theory of parallel development, what is the simplification strategy?

A

‘baby talk’ theory: europeans felt that they deliberately simplified their languages when talking to the slaves/natives so they never heard the standard language. Unable to produce proper language
= RIDICULOUS

65
Q

Describe the monogenisis theory

A

One source for pidgins all over the world. Pidgins that dervie from european Ls originate from a portugese pigin that came from Sabir an formed structural basis for all pidgins

66
Q

In the monogenisis theory, what is relexification?

A

Keeping the structure (cuboards) but changing the words (dishes)

67
Q

Describe the linguistic Universals approach

A

Clarifies the similarities underlying pidgins irrespective of the circumstances that gave right to that pidgins
- stresses inherit linguistic skills of all language learners

68
Q

In the Linguistic Universals Approach, describe Bickerton’s Language Bioprogram Hypothesis

A
  • points out similarities b/w pidgins/creoles and baby talk
  • every child has a biological program to develop a full language that operates by the same laws
  • children who are forced to learn a codified L are at a disadvantage b/c the rules are unnatural
  • creoles are more natural than codified L
69
Q

Can pidgins be resurrected?

A

Yes, hardly any pidgin has a continuous life. They often die and are reserected

70
Q

Give an example of a language that was creolized

A

E.g. Children learned Haitian pidgin and it became a creole because they didn’t have access to french (full language)

71
Q

How can you tell Creoles from ‘full’ languages?

A

o No structural criteria
o Only from knowing it’s history
• Underlying process between creole and a language are the same

72
Q

What happened to Tok Pisin when it was turned into a creole?

A

•Spoken in Papua newguine
- ‘Nativized’ in the 1960s
• Was a creole for the new generation of children and an extended pidgin for the older speakers
- in the 1980s: new grammatical categories, processes of word formation, stylistic devices

73
Q

What were the new functions of TOk Pisin

A
  • symbol of new culture

- Use in new domains

74
Q

What were the • Linguistic changes in tok pisin

A
  • Assimilation and reduction
  • Expansion of vocab.
  • Verbal tense system
  • Syntactic complexity
75
Q

What is Decreolization

A
  • When a creole merges into the full language that used to be it’s supertratum
76
Q

What is the creole continuum

A

many intermediate varieties converge with standard and merge with it
( only happens if we have a creole with the same supertratum as the standard language)

77
Q

What is a Basilect

A

the basic language – more like creole, least like standard

78
Q

What is a Mesolect

A

Intermediate varieties

79
Q

What is an Acrolect

A

very similar to the standard language

80
Q

What is the myth of jamaican creole

A

There are only two types of dialects

  • The standard and the creole
  • they ignore the existence of this continuum
81
Q

example of where there is no creole continuum

A
  • suriname : speak english based creole but the standard L is dutch
82
Q

What are the conditions in which a creole continuum will not occur

A
  • creole and standard L aren’t related
  • In highly stratified societies
  • If the two L have different functions
83
Q

Example of decreolization

A

ex. Gechee - Black speech

- undergoing decreolization because there is now interaction and equality b/w races

84
Q

What 4 things can happen to a creole?

A
  1. A stable relationship with the superstrate
    - E.g. Haitian Creole & france
  2. It may be ‘absorbed’ by the standard
    - E.g. Sea Islands - gechee
  3. A creole may become a standard
    - E.g. Afrikaans, Tok pisin, Swahili
  4. Develop a creole continuum
    E.g. Jamaica, Guyana
85
Q

What is Recreolization

A

When a creole that was converging with a standard L becomes more like a creole.

86
Q

What was the study done by Wright in 1984 on the norms of black-british born adolescents of Caribbean origin?

A
  • spoke the local english dialect and a form of creole (was decreolized in their parents generation)
  • found that when the kids spoke it was more of a basolect than that of their parents
  • To stress their background/ culture
87
Q

Who is John Agard

A

• Born in Guyana, moved to U.K.
• Writes poems
like “Mr. Oxford Don”

88
Q

Relexification hypothesis 1

A

the slaves learned and relexified the pidgin in the slave forts or on the ship (and completed this relexfication on plantations)

89
Q

Relexification hypothesis 2

A

the portugese sailors adapted their pidgin to the language of the slave fort they went to in Africa.

2S03 (10 decks)

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