It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the country in which they reside (but where there is no common language between the groups). This introduction, written jointly by the creolists of the University of Amsterdam, could not have been written without recourse to this new material.A pidgin / ˈ p ɪ dʒ ɪ n/, or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from several languages. Research on pidgin and creole languages during the past decade has yielded an abundance of uncovered material and new insights. In addition to pidgins, mixed languages are treated in a separate chapter.

Pidgins are not treated as necessarily an intermediate step on the way to creoles, but as linguistic entities in their own right with their own characteristics. A concluding chapter draws together the different strands of argumentation, and the annotated list provides the background information on several hundred pidgins, creoles and mixed languages.ĭiversity rather than unity is taken to be the central theme, and for the first time in an introduction to pidgins and creoles, the Atlantic creoles receive the attention they deserve.

Part I: General Aspects and Part II: Theories of Genesis constitute the core for presentation and discussion in the classroom, while Part III: Sketches of Individual Languages (such as Eskimo Pidgin, Haitian, Saramaccan, Shaba Swahili, Fa d'Ambu, Papiamentu, Sranan, Berbice Dutch) and Part IV: Grammatical Features (such as TMA particles and auxiliaries, noun phrases, reflexives, serial verbs, fronting) can form the basis for further exploration. It does not demand a high level of previous linguistic knowledge. This introduction to the linguistic study of pidgin and creole languages is clearly designed as an introductory course book.

An introduction to pidgins and creoles