Unit 12: ESL and PIDGINS AND CREOLE
6.0 Tutor Marked Assignment 7.0 Reference/Further Reading 1.0 INTRODUCTION
Pidgins and Creole are linguistic choices that have sociolinguistic relevance to the ESL and languages in general. In actual fact, Pidgin and Creole are languages in themselves and because of their wide-spread usage in most part of the world especially where there have been language contact, they create some forms of confusion. For instance in Nigeria, some people erroneously view Nigerian Pidgin (NP) as the ESL. The truth is that NP is language all by itself while ESL is a variant of English. In this unit, attention shall be paid to Pidgin and Creole generally.
2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of the unit, the students should be able to:
i. provide the definitions of Pidgins and Creole , and ii. explain the processes of pidginization and creolization.
iii. point out the linguistic characteristics of Pidgins and Creole.
3.0 MAIN BODY
Pidgins and Creole languages are perhaps some of the least studied languages in the world. They have received so little attention because some scholar did not consider them as languages (Wardraugh 2004:50, 54-55). However this attitude has changed over time.
3.1 What are Pidgins and Creole?
According to Holm (1988:4-5 quoted in Wardraugh 2004:57) a Pidgin can be defined as
„a reduced language that results from extended contact between groups of people with no language in common; it evolves when they need some means of verbal communication, perhaps for trade, but no group learns the native language of any other group for social reasons that may include lack of trust or of close contact‟.
Pidgins are generally viewed as languages resulting from contact situation as such, it is always a derived language. Pidgins arise from „simplification of the grammar and vocabulary of that (target) language, considerable phonological variation, and an admixture of local vocabulary to meet the special needs of the contact group‟.
In the real sense of the word, Pidgins are languages without native speakers since they are Interlingua in nature. Some of the most popular examples of Pidgins are Tok Pisin (spoken in Papua New Guinea), Nigerian Pidgin English, Haitian Pidgin English; etc.
There are, of course, other Pidgins associated with French, German, as well as Spanish.
Yule (1996:233) refers to Pidgin as a variety of language which developed for some practical purposes, such as trading‟. This apparently points to the limited functionality of pidgins.
Definition of Creole
According to Yule (1996:234) a Creole evolves when a Pidgin develops and expands its role as a trade language and becomes the first language of a group of people. This nation is echoed by other scholars. Basically, Creole is associated with the off-springs of a generation of speakers of pidgin languages. For this new set of speakers, the Pidgins have become a mother tongue as such the scope of usage has widened. Holmes (1992:95 quoted in Wardraugh 2004:59) declares „A Creole is a Pidgin which has expanded in structure and vocabulary to express the range of meanings and serve the range of functions required of a first language.‟
Examples of Creole include Jamaican Creole, Haitian Creole, Krio (Sierra-Leone), Tok Pisin, Nigerian Pidgin English etc. Yule (Ibid) notes that Creoles have “large numbers of native speakers and are not restricted at all in their uses”.
3.2 Processes of Pidginization and Creolization Pidginization often takes the following ways:
Reduction of the word structure of the target language
Reduction of the grammatical structure of the language
Marked variation in pronunciation
Extensive borrowing of lexical items from the mother-tongue or first language, and
Reduction in usages or functions.
A slightly different process is observable in creolization:
Expansion of the morphology.
Expansion of the syntax
Regularization of the phonology
Increase in the number of functions
Development of a rationale and stable system of increasing the vocabulary (see Wardraugh 2004:59).
3.3 Linguistic Characteristics of Pidgins and Creoles
Though it may be argued that Pidgin and Creole are two distinct languages, it is quite glaring that they share some characteristics linguistically.
1. Absence of Inflections
It has been observed that both systems generally feature a complete absence of inflection in nouns, pronouns, verbs and adjectives. Such grammatical elements as plural forms, comparison of adjectives etc. do not reflect in Pidgins and Creoles.
This wan big pass dat wan (Nigeria Pidgin English).
2. Several Syntactic Features include the regulation of all negative forms to „no‟, and the use of „de‟ for the progress verbal form.
i. Them no know say we come.
ii. Him de come.
3. Another common feature is the use of reduplication in the lexical pattern. The vocabulary pattern of Pidgins and Creoles often undergoes repetition or intensification (see Wardraugh 2004:66).
i. No put sansan for mi gari.
ii. I know am well well.
4. There is also a great reduction in the sounds of Pidgin and Creole.
Self Assessment Exercise i. Define Pidgins and Creoles.
ii. What are the processes of Pidginization.
iii. Mention some linguistic characteristics of Pidgin and Creole.
4.0 CONCLUSION
This unit has clearly established that Pidgins and Creole are crucial and wide-spread linguistic realities. Though they are grossly misunderstood which probably accounts for the little attention they have received hitherto, they are nonetheless completely different from the language variant that manifests itself as ESL.
5.0 SUMMARY
Pidgins and Creole are languages that are closely related. Pidgins arose from the need for speakers of two different languages to communicate; it is therefore a contact language with no native speaker. On the other hand, a Creole evolves from Pidgins and usually has native speakers. Pidginization and Creolization are not exactly uniform. While Pidginization is often achieved through the reduction of the linguistic features of the target language, Creolization comes through the expansion of the Pidgins that are being creolized. The linguistic features of Pidgins and Creoles include the absence of inflections, the use of republications, great reduction in sounds etc.
6.0 TUTOR MARKED ASSIGNMENT
i. „Pidgins and Creoles are languages on their own‟ Discuss.
ii. Mention the processes of Pidginization and Creolization and briefly explain their linguistic characteristics.
4.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING:
i. Holm, J. (1988) Pidgins and Creoles. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press ii. Holmes, J. (1992) An Introduction to Sociolinguistics London: Longman
iii. Wardhaugh, R. (2004) An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. London: Blackwell iv. Yule, G. (1996) The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Unit 13: ESL and PIDGINS AND CREOLE (2)