Chapter 3 - Pidgins and Creoles Flashcards
a couple decades ago how were pidgins, creoles and Lingua Francas viewed by speakers of ‘full’ languages
- corrupt versions of full languages
- Linguistically ‘uninteresting’
- considered speakers of pidgins and creoles as mentally handicapped
What does pidgin mean in chinese
bussiness
why are pidgins and creoles important
- 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
Define Lingua Franca
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)
Give example of a Lingua Franca being created
→ 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
Other names for lingua Francas
o A trade language
o A contact language
o n international language
o An auxiliary language (Basic English)
Give example of a mixed language
Michif - mix of cree and maiti french
- has 500 speakers
Example of Lingua Francas
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)
Is lingua franca a type of language
NO it’s a function of a language
Lingua francas show what two types of variation?
ex?
Individual & regional variation
ex.1 English in india
2 swahili in east africa
Explain what happened to Swahili in Africa
- 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
Explain the Chinook Jargon example of Lingua Francas
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
What is a pidgin
- 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)
What are pidgins often viewed as
- reduced versions of a normal language
- tolerant to vast variation
- “bad’ english
- baby talk
NOT TRUE
What is a superstratum and substratum?
Superstratum - dominant language( more codified) that vocab is pulled from to form a pidgin
substratum - local language which provides syntactic frame
how many languages involved in pidgins
2(causes struggle in dominance) or 3 (2 inferior, one dominant)
Where do pidgins exist?
- In slave societies
- On sea costs
- As Lingua Francas
Do pidgins have rules?
YES - but they are fewer and simplified
Example of a short lived pidgin
Turkish workers came to Germany and a pidginized variety was created only used in 60s-70s
What evidence supports the claim that pidgin languages signal only a minimum of grammatical information explicitly
- Fewer inflections
- lack of morphological endings
- repeating info in pronouns
What is a Creole
- 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)
Can a language be both a pidgin and a creole?
YES - same language can be spoken by adults as pidgins and by children as a creole. There is no clear line
What is an extended pidgin
- intermediate variety characteristic of urban centers
ex. Israel
Do all pidgins become creoles?
NO