Linguistic Varieties - S. PDF

Ch 4. Lingua franca(s) Pidgins & Creoles (Part 3) Sociolinguistics 1 Lingua Franca(s) Describes: A language serving as a regular means of communication between different linguistic groups in a multilingual speech community. When academics and experts meet at...

Ch 4. Lingua franca(s) Pidgins & Creoles (Part 3) Sociolinguistics 1 Lingua Franca(s) Describes: A language serving as a regular means of communication between different linguistic groups in a multilingual speech community. When academics and experts meet at international conferences, or when politicians arrange summit meetings, a world language such as English, French or Spanish is often used as the lingua franca. A lingua franca is used for communication between people whose first languages differ. 2 Cont. Lingua Franca(s) In multilingual communities, lingua francas are so useful they may eventually displace the vernaculars. The case of Congo-Zaire, Tanzania, and PNG. Lingua francas often develop initially as trade languages – illustrating again the influence of economic factors on language change. For example in West Africa, Hausa is learned as a second language and used in nearly every market-place. 3  The most interesting lingua francas in many respects are: Pidgins and creoles 4 Pidgins 5  General View - People find them amusing (claiming that it sounds a lot like baby talk). - Many native speakers of English still find pidgin languages humorous or babyish. - They view pidgin and creoles as NOT real languages. 6  What are Pidgins? Has NO native speakers. Pidgins develop as a means of communication between people who do not have a common language. Pidgin is no one’s native language. Likely to arise when two groups with different languages are communicating in a situation where there is also a third dominant language. 7  Started on the Caribbean slave plantation in the 17th and 18th century. How? West African people were separated from others who used the same language (Rebels/Escape). In order to communicate with each other, as well as with their overseers, they developed pidgins based on the language of the plantation bosses as well as their own language. 8 Results? On seacoasts in multilingual contexts, Pidgins developed as languages of trade between the traders (who used a colonial language such as Portuguese, or Spanish or English, and the Indians, Chinese, Africans or American Indians that they were trading with). 9  Origin of the Word Pidgin The word pidgin reflects its use as a means of communication between traders. It may derive from the word “business” as pronounced in the pidgin English which developed in China. Or from Hebrew (pidjom) meaning trade or exchange, Or from the combination of two Chinese characters (pei) and (tsin) meaning paying money. 10  Examples of Pidgins 1. Bislama - Vanuatu, 80 islands in the southwest Pacific, people were not slaves (plantation workers). 2. Juba Arabic in Sudan Read more in textbook. 11  Facts about Pidgins Created from the combined efforts of people who speak different languages. Pidgin languages tend to have simplified structure and a small vocabulary compared with fully developed languages. For example, pacific pidgin languages have only five vowels. Also, consonant clusters are simplified. Words also generally do not have inflections. 12 Pidgin languages tend to reduce grammatical signals to a minimum, which makes it easy to learn. Pidgins are not easy to learn a whole because it’s full of structural irregularities. The vocabulary needed for a trade language is very small compared to a complete language. For a pidgin language, the vocabulary is mostly used for trade; around five hundred words are sufficient. Tok Pisin, Cameron pidgin English, Hawaiian, and more. 13  Attitudes Toward Pidgins They have been described as Pidgin languages do not have mongrel jargons and macaroni high status or prestige, and to lingos and given negative labels those who do not speak them, such as broken English and they often seem ridiculous kitchen kaffir (i.e., Fanagalo, a languages. south African English). 14  Often a topic in comedy shows. Many words in pidgins derive from a European language in pidgin so many Europeans consider pidgins to be a debased (corrupted) form of their own language. Europeans assume they can guess the meanings. Pidgins often have a short life. If they develop for a restricted function, they disappear when the function disappears. For example In Vietnam, a pidgin English developed for use between the American troops and the Vietnamese, but it subsequently died out. 15  A trading pidgin usually disappears when trade between the groups die out. If trade grows, then more contact will lead to one side learning the language. 16 Summary Points about Pidgins To sum up, a pidgin language has three identifying characteristics: 1) It is used in restricted domains and functions. 2) It has a simplified structure compared to the source languages. 3) It generally has low prestige and attracts negative attitudes – especially from outsiders. 17 Creoles A creole is a pidgin, which has acquired native speakers. Many of the languages, which are called pidgins, are in fact now creole languages. They are learned by children as their first language and used in a wide range of domains. A clear example is Tok Pisin. It is a creole because it has been learned as a first language by a large number of speakers. 18 Creoles differ from pidgins in their range of functions, in their structures and sometimes the attitudes expressed towards them. Definition: 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. 19  - The linguistic complexity of creole languages is often not appreciated by outsiders. - Creole languages do develop Structural ways of systematically signaling meanings such as verb tenses, and Features these may develop into inflections or affixes over time. of Creoles - Pidgins become more structurally regular as they undergo “creolization” (the process by which a pidgin becomes a creole). 20 The End 21