Pidgins And Creoles

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Pidgins and Creoles















Roberto Parada Alvarez.

Introduction:

Linguists have tried for years to establish what is a Pidgin and a creole. There are off course some definitions from the technical point of view, but we have to acknowledge that this is a phenomenon that is not related with the technical aspect of a language whatsoever, andthroughout this investigation, sometimes this is strangely forgotten.

Let us star with some definitions about it. The Oxford dictionary states that Pidgin is: “A grammatically simplified form of a language, used for communication between people not sharing a common language. Pidgins have a limited vocabulary, some elements of which are taken from local languages, and are not native languages, butarise out of language contact between speakers of other languages.”

About creoles it states that:” noun:

1- A person of mixed European and black descent, especially in the Caribbean. A descendant of Spanish or other European settlers in the Caribbean or Central or South America. A white descendant of French settlers in Louisiana and other parts of the southern US.

2- A mother tongue formedfrom the contact of two languages through an earlier pidgin stage: a Portuguese-based Creole

Origin: From French créole, criole, from Spanish criollo, probably from Portuguese crioulo 'black person born in Brazil, home-born slave', from criar 'to breed', from Latin creare 'produce, create'

So basically, it has been defined through the years that a Pidgins will consequently transform itselfinto a Creole. But how does this actually happens? The word pidgin was coined in the late 19th century; it is a Chinese alteration of English business. If you think about it “pidgin” is not similar in sound or morphologically alike to “business”. In dealing with business, actually negotiating terms of a contract between businessman they had to find a way to communicate themselves in a “lingua franca”that could be comprehensible for both parties. In the Chinese sound setting the most familiar sound to business is pidgin, and here enters another topic to be explain later on, the capacity to create language without any kind of grammar or a definite meaning to a word, like a dictionary give us today.

During the middle ages the word “Barbarian” meant something different to what we know today.“Barbarian and savage are terms used to refer to a person who is perceived to be uncivilized. The word is often used either in a general reference to a member of a nation or ethnos, typically a tribal society as seen by an urban civilization either viewed as inferior, or admired as a noble savage. In idiomatic or figurative usage, a "barbarian" may also be an individual reference to a brutal, cruel,warlike, insensitive person.

The term originates from the Greek civilization, meaning "anyone who is not Greek". In ancient times, Greeks used it for the people of the Persian Empire; in the early modern period and sometimes later, they used it for the Turks, in a clearly pejorative way. Comparable notions are found in non-European civilizations. In the Roman Empire, Romans used the wordbarbarian for the Germans.”

The changes in languages are related to the way people use it to communicate abstract thought, and not necessarily with a definite grammar. “The Migration Period, also known as the Barbarian Invasions (German: Völkerwanderung "migration of peoples"), was a period of intensified human migration in Europe from about 400 to 800 AD. This period marked the transition from LateAntiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Migrations were catalyzed by profound changes within the Roman Empire and on its "barbarian frontier". The migrants who came first were Germanic tribes such as the Goths, Vandals, Lombards, Suebi, Frisii and Franks; they were later pushed westwards by the Huns, Avars, Slavs, Bulgars and Alans.”



Avoiding further reference on historical events,...