Hello everyone, welcome to the Langfocus channel and my name is Paul. Today we're going to talk about the language of pigeons. Sorry, I know that joke isn't very good but that's all I've got. Today I'm going to talk about some special kinds of languages called pigeons and creoles.
You've probably heard those terms before, maybe in the names of certain languages like Pigeon English or Haitian Creole, but please note There is not just a single pidgin language or a single creole language. They are actually referring to categories of languages. There are many pidgins and many creoles around the world.
First, what do they have in common? Well, pidgins and creoles are new languages that develop when speakers of different languages come into contact with each other and have a need to communicate. Many pidgins and creoles have arisen when colonial powers came into contact with local people as they spread around the world.
So what's the difference between Pidgins and Creoles? Well, Pidgins are non-native lingua francas, while Creoles have native speakers. But let me get into both types of language. First of all, Pidgin languages. As I just mentioned, Pidgin languages have no native speakers.
They're languages that arise very suddenly, very quickly, when there is a need for communication in a certain situation. For example, for trade or for labor. The pidgin language is a sort of compromise between two different languages or between multiple languages. Pidgins usually arise when one group of people is dominant over another group of people, and the less dominant group needs to learn to communicate with the more dominant group.
But without any formal education in the language of that dominant group, they adopt a sort of simplified language based on the most basic vocabulary of that dominant group's language and based on the most basic grammar of their own native language. This happens most commonly in situations of trade, slavery, or colonial contact. And in a situation like that, the dominant group is usually the colonial power or the most influential trading partner.
Imagine this situation. An English-speaking colonial power has a sugar plantation, and they bring over laborers from various different countries to that sugar plantation. And those people speak different languages. But in order to work together, they need to have a common language. so they try to adopt English.
But since they do this quickly and they just adopt the basics, the resulting language is a very simplified language just using the basic vocabulary of English and a very non-English grammar. That is a pigeon language. When pigeons first develop, they are typically restricted in use, meaning that they are only used for a certain purpose, for example on the job or for trade.
But some pigeons become expanded pigeons, meaning that they begin to be used for all facets of life including social life, family life, things like that and they become languages in their own right. Even though they are not native languages, they are passed down from generation to generation as lingua francas amongst people who speak different native languages. Now about creole languages.
So pigeons have no native speakers. They arise because of the need for a lingua franca but If that language survives and becomes the native language of the next generation, then it is now a Creole language. For example, slaves from several different countries are working closely together on a plantation, but they have no common language, so they develop their pidgin, and it quickly becomes their expanded pidgin, the language they use for all everyday purposes. Their children grow up in that environment with that pidgin language, and it becomes their native language.
That is now a Creole language. In the days when African slaves were brought to the Americas, they were often separated from people who spoke the same native language. That was to prevent them from rebelling or from making plans together, that kind of thing. So in those kinds of situations, the pidgin languages became expanded very quickly, and within one generation, sometimes became creoles.
Some creoles are based on English, for example, Jamaican Creole. Some creoles are based on French, including Haitian Creole, which has 12 million native speakers. And a smaller number of Creole languages are based on Spanish, including Chavacano in Philippines. Now, how different are these Creole languages from their parent languages? Well, it depends on the particular language, but let's look at an example.
This example is from Bislama, which is an English-based Creole spoken in Vanuatu. The first sentence is, This is my house. In Bislama, Hem ye haus blong mi. Or, in more standard English phonology, Him hir haus blong mi.
Another example sentence, I have already been to town. In Bislama, Mi bin long town finis. Or in standard English phonology, Mi bin long town finish. So look at each word.
Mi is like I. Bin, that's self-explanatory. Long is used as a preposition here instead of an adjective. So long means toward or to. And then we have town, that's like town.
And finish. Finish is used instead of already to show that something has been accomplished. So again, you can see that The words are from English but they're used and arranged in a very different way.
And this is what makes it a different language than the parent language. Pidgins and creoles are fascinating because they are proof that languages are living entities that are constantly changing and adapting to the needs of their speakers. Sometimes two or more languages can even join forces and take on a life of their own as a new language.
Thank you for watching. Be sure to leave your comments down below and have a nice day.