THE HANDBOOK OF SOCIOLINGUISTIC
UNIT 12. LANGUAGE CONTACT AND LANGUAGE GENERATION: PIDGINS AND CREOLES
1. Introduction
Pidgins and creoles arise from contact between speakers of different languages. A pidgin serves as a simplified means of
communication, typically emerging in contexts like trade, migration, or enslavement. It blends elements of the users' native
languages but is simpler in terms of vocabulary, morphology, and grammar. In contrast, a creole evolves when a pidgin
becomes the native language of a community, acquiring greater complexity in vocabulary and grammar as it assumes broader
social functions. However, some pidgins, like Tok Pisin and Sango, develop significant complexity even without native
speakers. The study of pidgins and creoles holds unique importance in sociolinguistics for several reasons:
1. Social Contexts and Histories: Pidgins and creoles highlight the profound influence of social factors on language
formation, offering insights into how historical and cultural contexts shape linguistic evolution. They exemplify the
extreme role social circumstances play in language transmission and use, making their sociohistorical study a central
focus of creole linguistics.
2. Testing Ground for Sociolinguistic Theories: These languages provide data for models of sociolinguistic variation
and change, such as diglossia, identity acts, and language variation theories. Pidgin and creole-speaking communities
are rich environments for studying multilingualism, code-switching, and the relationship between language and
aspects like social class, power, and identity.
3. Applied Sociolinguistic Relevance: The study of these languages intersects with practical concerns, such as their
use for social integration, political empowerment, and literacy. They raise important issues in orthography, language
planning, and education, particularly in their potential to combat illiteracy and foster vernacular literatures.
4. Vibrancy and Debate: The field of pidgin and creole studies is marked by dynamic debates and disagreements,
driving innovative research. This “fractious energy” fosters a stimulating intellectual environment, contrasting with
the often more settled tone of general sociolinguistics.
2. Pidgins
2.1. Description
Pidgins develop in situations requiring communication among speakers of different native languages, often for trade,
multi-ethnic labor, or service interactions. Examples include Pidgin Yimas (trade in Papua New Guinea), Fanakalo (mines in
South Africa), and Russenorsk (trade between Norwegians and Russians). Structurally, pidgins are simpler than their source
languages, particularly in morphology and syntax, though their simplicity also extends to lexical and semantic resources.
Russenorsk demonstrates typical pidgin features:
● A small vocabulary (150-200 words), unmarked by grammatical categories like case or number.
● Simplified syntax with a single preposition (på) covering diverse meanings and no explicit copula.
● Lexical limitations addressed through semantic extensions and reduplication, e.g., "mora-morradag" for "the day
after tomorrow."
However, simplicity alone doesn’t define pidgins, as some languages (e.g., Chinese) lack morphological complexity but
are not pidgins. Pidgins uniquely combine simplification of inner form (restricted lexicon and semantics), elements from
multiple languages, and use among speakers of different native languages. Other simplified registers, such as foreigner
talk, lack one or more of these traits.
Pidgins often emerge in socially asymmetric contexts. Typically, the socially dominant group’s language (the
superstrate) provides most of the lexicon, while the subordinate group’s language(s) (the substrate) influence phonology,
syntax, and semantics. For example, in Melanesian Pidgin English (Tok Pisin), much of the vocabulary comes from English,
but structural features like predicate markers and plural markers reflect Eastern Oceanic languages.
Pidgins are distinguished from jargons by their conventionalized norms. Jargons, like Gastarbeiterdeutsch, are more
variable and heavily influenced by speakers’ native languages. In contrast, pidgins like Chinook Jargon establish shared
conventions, such as consistent negation markers, regardless of the users’ linguistic backgrounds.
2.2. Genesis
The formation of pidgins stems from various phenomena associated with language contact. A significant influence
comes from foreigner talk registers, which emerge when speakers simplify their language to communicate with non-native
speakers. Common simplifications include slow speech, uninflected forms, and the omission of articles and function words.
Over time, these simplified registers can evolve into standardized forms within a community, as seen in pidgins like Pidgin
Fijian and Chinook Jargon. For example, Fijians developed a simplified register of their language for interactions with
outsiders, which the British adopted upon arrival. Such practices often reflect a desire to preserve the full language as a
marker of identity and status, excluding outsiders from its use.
Although not all pidgins rely on pre-existing foreigner talk models, these registers demonstrate a clear sociolinguistic
tendency to arise during intercultural interactions. This provides a plausible framework for understanding pidgin genesis,
though explicit evidence of foreigner talk as a precursor is not universal.
Another key influence on pidgin formation is the substrate languages, which heavily shape the structure of the
emerging pidgin. Substrate features often account for marked grammatical and syntactic traits in pidgins. For example, Tây
Bôi Pidgin French adopted serial verb constructions from Vietnamese, and similar substrate influences have been observed in
Chinook Jargon, Kituba, Hiri Motu, and Bislama. The diverse characteristics of pidgins can only be fully explained by
referencing their substrates.
A simplified yet useful view of pidgin formation is that it results from the interaction between superstrate-based
foreigner talk and substrate-derived structures. Substrate speakers also contribute simplified versions of their languages,
creating a dynamic interplay that shapes the pidgin. For instance, in Melanesian Pidgin English, both superstrate and
substrate speakers influenced the language's development, with substrate speakers introducing simplified features from their
own grammars. This interaction between superstrate and substrate elements underscores the complexity and variability of
pidgin genesis.
2.3. Pidginization and simplification as a cline
Pidginization is not a binary process but exists along a cline of linguistic complexity, ranging from fully developed
languages to highly simplified pidgins. This continuum includes intermediate stages such as language shifts (e.g., Irish
English or Yiddish) and more structurally and lexically complex pidgins. Pidgins vary in complexity based on the nature and
extent of contact between superstrate and substrate speakers or the genetic relationship between the involved languages. For
example:
● Naga Pidgin: A pidginized form of Assamese, it exhibits more inflection than typical pidgins due to its role as both a
trade and instructional language for the Naga people.
● Kituba: Emerging from dialects of Kikongo, it retains significant grammatical structure because its speakers shared
a linguistic core, despite creating a simplified pidgin.
● Hiri Motu: Displays variability depending on the speakers' linguistic backgrounds. Papuan speakers use a more
simplified version akin to Tok Pisin, while Austronesian speakers retain more structural features of Motu, reflecting
their closer linguistic ties.
These examples illustrate that genetic relatedness and the depth of interaction influence the degree of pidginization. Close
linguistic relationships can act as a constraint on simplification, preserving greater structural and morphological complexity
in the resulting pidgin.
2.4. Life-cycle issues
Pidgins were central to Hall's (1966) classic life-cycle model of contact languages, which proposed a sequence from
pidgin to creole and eventually to decreolization toward the lexifier language. However, this model oversimplifies the varied
outcomes of pidgins, which can also include remaining stable or dying out.
Creolization, often linked to nativization (children adopting the language as their first language), is a process where a
pidgin evolves into a fully functional language. Yet, evidence shows that creolization can also result from adults using the
language extensively across diverse social contexts. Ex: Melanesian Pidgin English, initially a shipboard jargon, became a
lingua franca among plantation workers. Even before it was nativized as Tok Pisin, the language had developed complex
structures comparable to any creole, driven by adult rather than by children.
Pidgin expansion is often driven by interaction among speakers of mutually unintelligible languages rather than solely
between superstrate (dominant) and substrate (subordinate) speakers. This is evident in examples like Naga Pidgin, whose
complexity arose from its use among Naga language speakers, and Chinese Pidgin English, which developed fluency
between Chinese dialect speakers rather than between the Chinese and British.
The evolution of pidgins reflects their changing sociolinguistic roles: Hiri Motu transitioned from a trade register to a
lingua franca spread by police forces, associated with economic integration. Lingala expanded from a Congo River trade
pidgin to an urban lingua franca in business and education. These cases illustrate that the pidgin–creole–decreolization cycle
doesn’t capture the diverse ways pidgins adapt to new social settings.
Not all pidgins expand. Some, like Russenorsk, remained limited in function despite vigorous trade because there was no
social impetus for broader use. Others, like Chinook Jargon and certain Papua New Guinea pidgins, persisted for extended
periods without significant structural development. This shows that expansion depends on sociological motivations, and in
their absence, pidgins remain reduced but functional communication tools.
When the sociological reasons for a pidgin's existence disappear, the language typically dies out. For example,
Russenorsk declined when Norwegian merchants learned Russian, and modern trade practices eliminated the need for a
barter language. Similarly, Fanakalo, a pidginized Zulu associated with racism, is being replaced by other pidgins like Town
Bemba in Zambia. These examples highlight how social attitudes and changing economic conditions can contribute to the
death of a pidgin.
2.5. Distribution
Pidginization is often viewed as an "exotic" linguistic phenomenon and an extreme form of language restructuring, but
this perception may stem from a monolingual Western bias. In reality, pidginization is a widespread and universal human
response to the need for simplified communication between speakers of mutually unintelligible languages. Unlike creole
languages, which are geographically concentrated in tropical plantation colonies of European powers, pidgins have been
documented across all continents and climates, indicating their global relevance.
The prevalence of pidginization is further highlighted by the many poorly documented or entirely forgotten pidgins. For
instance, numerous Indo-Aryan pidgins in India and countless undocumented pidgins in Papua New Guinea – a linguistically
diverse region – emphasize the commonality of this phenomenon. Additionally, historical examples, such as the trade pidgins
of eighteenth-century Scandinavia, including Borgarmålet (a Swedish-Lappish hybrid), reveal that many pidgins have
vanished over time, leaving behind limited records of their existence.
3. Creole Languages
3.1. Creole features and subtypes
Creoles are generally more complex and structurally developed than pidgins. However, the distinction between the two
becomes less apparent when a pidgin has stabilized and become a primary language before nativization, as in the case of Tok
Pisin. The differences are more pronounced in early creolized creoles, which emerge quickly after initial contact, often when
the precursor vernacular is at a rudimentary, pre-pidgin stage. This process, termed abrupt creolization by Thomason and
Kaufman (1988), is believed to apply to many creoles formed during the European slave trade in Africa, the Caribbean, and
the Indian Ocean. Bickerton (1988) also supports this view, suggesting that Hawaiian Creole English is an example of such a
creole.
Creoles display features absent in early-stage pidgins, including:
1. Movement rules for focusing different elements of a sentence, as seen in Guyanese Creole (GC).
2. Article systems that differentiate definites (e.g., di buk for "the book"), indefinites (e.g., wan buk for "a book"), and
nonspecifics (e.g., buk for "books").
3. Markers for tense, modality, and aspect, such as GC bin (past), go (future), and a (punctual action).
4. Complex sentence embeddings, with or without relative pronouns, enabling structures like those in Guyanese
Creole narratives.
Creoles are further categorized by their sociohistorical contexts:
● Fort Creoles developed in European trading forts along the West African coast between the sixteenth and
nineteenth centuries. For example, Guinea Coast Creole English (GCCE) likely influenced many Caribbean
English-based creoles, although most slaves sent to the New World did not speak these fort creoles.
● Plantation Creoles arose in ethnically diverse slave or laborer communities on plantations in the Atlantic, Pacific,
and Indian Oceans. The connection between plantation demographics and creole formation has been a focus of
ongoing research.
● Maroon Creoles are spoken in communities formed by escaped slaves. Saramaccan in Suriname is a notable
example, with distinct non-European features partly due to the isolation of maroon communities.
3.2. Theories of origin
The origins of pidgins and creoles have sparked significant debate, with theories broadly divided into polygenetic and
monogenetic approaches, alongside the more recent Language Bioprogram Hypothesis (LBH). These theories seek to explain
the structural similarities, simplified nature, and mixed influences of these languages.
Polygenetic theories propose that pidgins and creoles emerged independently in various locations, shaped by similar social
contexts such as trade and plantation systems. These contexts often required simplified, functional communication, which
might explain parallel linguistic developments. Hall’s "Independent Parallel Development" and Sankoff’s "Common Social
Context" highlight these parallels but lack detailed models and may overstate the uniformity of such settings. Substrate-based
theories emphasize the influence of local languages, suggesting that pidgins arose from limited second-language acquisition
or mutual accommodation between superstrate and substrate speakers. Afro-genesis, for instance, links creoles like Haitian
and Saramaccan to West African languages. However, these theories face challenges in explaining why only certain substrate
features were adopted.
Monogenetic theories suggest a shared origin for many pidgins and creoles. One hypothesis links them to a
Portuguese-based contact language from the fifteenth century, but this theory is dismissed for failing to explain varieties with
no Portuguese influence. A narrower theory posits an English-based Guinea Coast Creole as the ancestor of many Caribbean
creoles, but evidence for its widespread use is limited.
The LBH, proposed by Bickerton, suggests that creoles emerged when children, drawing on an innate linguistic
"bioprogram," transformed rudimentary pidgins into complex languages. This hypothesis explains structural similarities
across creoles and aligns with features of early childhood language development. Evidence includes the evolution of
Hawaiian Pidgin English into Hawaiian Creole English and shared features across creoles globally. However, critics argue
that the LBH overlooks gradualist scenarios, the role of adults in creole formation, and the influence of substrate languages.
High mortality rates in plantation communities also question the centrality of children in early creole genesis.
While debates continue, most scholars now recognize roles for both universal processes and substrate influences in the
development of pidgins and creoles. The LBH has contributed a novel perspective but has not supplanted earlier theories,
reflecting the complexity of these languages' origins.
3.3. The creole continuum and decreolization
The study of creole continua challenges traditional views of linguistic development and raises questions about how creole
languages interact with their standard counterparts over time. DeCamp's classic account proposed that such continua arose
from a historical situation where only a creole and its standard existed. Over time, creole speakers gradually adjusted their
speech to align with the standard, leading to intermediate forms (mesolects). This process, known as decreolization, is
viewed as a central mechanism for understanding creole continua.
However, this straightforward model has been contested. Alleyne (1971) suggested that variability existed from the outset
due to the diverse social conditions of enslaved populations, such as distinctions between house slaves and field slaves or
locally born and African-born individuals. Bickerton (1986) argued that the continuum might have developed "backwards,"
starting with the acrolect (the variety closest to the standard) and expanding downward as the hierarchical structure of slave
societies took shape. Mufwene (1988, 1989) criticized the assumption that decreolization implies a monolithic creole origin,
instead suggesting that continua may reflect diverse and dynamic linguistic processes from the beginning.
Still, evidence supports decreolization in certain contexts. Even slaves acquiring the acrolect likely did so through gradual
stages that resemble the decreolizing continuum, moving from basilect to mesolect to acrolect. Furthermore, quantitative
shifts over time have reduced the proportion of basilectal speakers in some communities, while qualitative decreolization has
led to the disappearance of certain basilectal features. Rickford’s polygenetic model reframes decreolization as an ongoing,
localized process in which speakers actively create intermediate varieties, shaped by common sociolinguistic factors, rather
than simply inheriting them.
The broader question of whether African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) reflects decreolization from an earlier
creole remains contested. Earlier debates polarized creolists, who viewed AAVE as a decreolized plantation creole, and
dialectologists, who argued for its development as a regional dialect of English. Recent research draws on evidence from the
African-American diaspora, with some scholars firmly rejecting the decreolization hypothesis and others supporting it. An
intermediate position suggests that AAVE might have semi-creole origins or partial creole influences, complicating the
binary distinction between creole and dialect.
Discussions about creole continua extend beyond historical decreolization to consider synchronic issues, such as whether
linguistic variation in continuum communities is as seamless or unidirectional as traditionally described. Scholars have
questioned whether continuum models adequately address the social and stylistic dimensions of language use and whether
the presumed trajectory of change—toward the acrolect—is universal. These complexities underscore the need for nuanced
approaches to understanding creole continua as dynamic, multidimensional phenomena.
4. Conclusion
Pidgins and creoles exemplify the remarkable ways in which languages emerge and evolve through contact, reflecting the
creative and adaptive nature of human communication. These languages have fascinated scholars for centuries, with early
studies dating back to Magens (1770). Modern sociolinguistics has also embraced their study, beginning with pioneers like
Ferguson (1959) and Hymes (1971). This paper has sought to outline the theoretical, methodological, and practical
implications of pidgins and creoles for sociolinguistics, while delving into key synchronic and diachronic debates surrounding
their development and variation. However, the broader human dimensions—such as the cultural, sociopolitical, educational,
and economic significance of these languages for their speakers—deserve deeper exploration.
The study of pidgin-creole linguistics remains a dynamic and invigorating field, marked by ongoing discoveries and the
continual reevaluation of established ideas. For sociolinguists, it offers both a wealth of insights to uncover and opportunities
to contribute, making it a fertile ground for advancing our understanding of language as a social phenomenon.
