Controversial Issues of Pidgin and Creoles (P/Cs)

Pidgins and Creoles (P/Cs) around different parts of the world may have remarkable similarities grammatically; even they come from different standard languages they are associated to. Further, the idea that pidgins arise because of imperfect language learning or lack ability to learn the standard languages may sometimes be associated with another one. Perhaps, it becomes the underlying reason for the controversial terms ‘foreigner-talk’ or ‘baby-talk’ which seems to underestimate people with indigenous language as they are likely associated to be ‘inferior’ and that Western language is ‘better’ than others because many people speak ‘primitive language’ (See Wardhaugh, 2002: 73).

         On the contrary, there is no valid evidence for the terms ‘foreigner-talk’ or ‘baby-talk’ theory as the origin of pidgins and creoles which assumes that the simplified forms, emerged as the result that Europeans simplify their languages to communicate with others, serve to provide pidgins with their basic structures and vocabularies. In fact, it seems to be the other way around that many Westerners must deal regularly with pidginized varieties of their languages and speak them very badly. Thus, they likely fail to understand some basic structural characteristics of the pidgin itself. One thing that is quite important here to underline is that pidgins, according to Wardhaugh, are not resulted as the imperfection of learning standard languages, but rather because it emerges as the speakers lack of either the ability or the opportunity to learn the standard varieties thoroughly.

          In spite of such underestimating theory, there are two theories for the origins of pidgins and creoles that are quite sufficient. They are namely polygenetic and monogenetic theory (see Wardhaugh, 2002: 73). ‘Polygenetic theory’ outlines that pidgins and creoles may have a variety of origins; and if there are any similarities among them, it merely because there are the shared circumstances of their origins. For instance, the English based pidgins may have certain simplified forms that have developed independently in a number of places. It formerly because the speakers of English attempt to make themselves understood by simplifying their language for certain purposes, so that they could be understood.

       

        Unlike polygenetic theory, ‘monogenetic theory’ attempts to examine the very beginnings of the pidginization process. This theory also suggests that the monogenetic theory suggests that the similarities may be found in the pidgins and therefore all pidgins have a common origin. McWhorter (1995) as cited in Wardhaugh illustrates how the beginnings of the slave trade and the existence of English and French slave forts on the West African Coast where the language contact developed. This contact language then provided the bases for most of the pidgins and creoles languages.

        In addition to what mentioned earlier, creolization may involve some significant changes; word-formation, sentence structures, regularization of the speech sounds, and stabilization of vocabulary enrichment. Therefore, such changes may require the term ‘relexification’ to explain. ‘Relexification’ is the theory that provides an explanation to the fact that pidgins and creoles associated with different standard languages may have a certain common structural features; even to some degree they are quite different in vocabularies. 

References:

Appel, Rene and Musken, Pieter. (1987). Language Contact and Bilingualism. Great Britain: Edward

ArnoldHolmes Janet. (1992). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. New York: Longman 

Wardhaugh, Ronald. (2002). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics 4^th Edition. Massachusetts: Balckwell.