1. Pidgins and Creole. Code
Pidgins and creoles
Bilingualism and multilingualism
Code switching

2. Outline Pidgins and creoles Codes
Attitudes towards pidgins and creoles
Importance of Pidgins and creoles studies in sociolinguistics
Lingua franca
Definitions
Distribution and characteristics
Codes
Diglossia
Bilingualism and multilingualism

3. Pidgins and Creoles

4. Attitudes towards Pidgins and creoles
They existed since time immemorial, but we know comparatively little about them
Before 1930s:
Ignored: Marginal language
They have been viewed as uninteresting linguistic phenomena
Associated with poorer and darker members of a society
Recent years:
Gained attention
Fundamental issues in all languages
Invaluable to their users ( identity)

5. Importance of Pidgins and creoles studies in sociolinguistics
With pidgins and creoles we can :
see processes of language origin and change going on around us.
witness how people are attracted to languages, how they exploit what linguistic resources they have, and how they forge new identities.
see how a language changes in short period of time ; a few generations suffice.
To some extent, the speakers of such languages have benefited as they have come to recognize that what they speak is not just a ‘bad’ variety of this language, but a variety of a language with its own legitimacy, i.e., its own history, structure, array of functions, and the possibility of winning eventual recognition as a ‘proper’ language.

6. Lingua Franca
People who speak different languages who are forced into contact with each other must find some way of communicating, a lingua franca.
A variety of other terms can be found which describe much the same phenomenon :
a trade language (e.g., Hausa in West Africa or Swahili in East Africa)
a contact language (e.g., Greek koiné in the Ancient World)
an international language (e.g., English throughout much of our contemporary world)
an auxiliary language (e.g., Esperanto or Basic English).
a mixed language.
They usually develop as a consequence of population migration (forced or voluntary) or for purposes of trade.

7. Pidgin and Creole pidgin creole Expanding
Pidgin that became the 1st language
Mother tongue
Normal language
Expanding
Language with no native speakers
Multi-linguistic situations
Reduce variety of a normal language

8. Definitions Pidgins Creoles
a reduced language that results from extended contact between groups of people with no language in common; it evolves when they need some means of verbal communication, perhaps for trade, but no group learns the native language of any other group for social reasons that may include lack of trust or of close contact. (Holm, 1988)
‘creoles arise when pidgins become mother tongues.’ (Aitchison,1994)
A creole, therefore, is a ‘normal’ language in almost every sense.
‘A creole is a pidgin which has expanded in structure and vocabulary to express the range of meanings and serve the range of functions required of a first language.’ (Holmes, 1992)

9. Distribution
Pidgin and creole languages are distributed mainly, though not exclusively, in the equatorial belt around the world, usually in places with direct or easy access to the oceans. Consequently, they are found mainly in the Caribbean and around the north and east coasts of South America, around the coasts of Africa, particularly the west coast, and across the Indian and Pacific Oceans. They are fairly uncommon in the more extreme northern and southern areas of the world and in the interiors of continents. Their distribution appears to be fairly closely related to long-standing patterns of trade, including trade in slaves. (p:66)

10. Characteristics
In describing the linguistic characteristics of a pidgin or creole it is difficult to resist the temptation to compare it with the standard language with which it is associated.
some such comparisons will be made, but they are not meant to be invidious to the pidgin or creole
Each pidgin or creole is a well-organized linguistic system and must be treated as such: you cannot speak Tok Pisin by just ‘simplifying’ English quite arbitrarily: you will be virtually incomprehensible to those who actually do speak it, nor will you comprehend them.
Main characteristics:
The sounds of a pidgin or creole are likely to be fewer and less complicated in their possible arrangements than those of the corresponding standard language.

11. Characteristics Main characteristics:
The sounds of a pidgin or creole are likely to be fewer and less complicated in their possible arrangements than those of the corresponding standard language.
morphophonemic variationis not found in pidgins, but the development of such variation may be one characteristic of creolization, the process by which a pidgin becomes a creole.
In pidgins and creoles there is likely to be a complete lack of inflection in nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adjectives. Nouns are not marked for number and gender, and verbs lack tense markers. Transitive verbs, that is, verbs that take objects, may, however, be distinguished from intransitive verbs, that is, those that do not take objects, by being marked, e.g., by a final -im in Tok Pisin. Pronouns will not be distinguished for case, so there will be no I–me, he–him alternations.
there is such a complete reduction of inflection in pidgins.
Syntactically, sentences are likely to be uncomplicated in clausal structure.
The vocabulary of a pidgin or a creole has a great many similarities to that of the standard language with which it is associated. However, it will be much more limited, and phonological and morphological simplification often leads to words assuming somewhat different shapes.

12. Codes
Diglossia
Bilingualism/ multilingualism
Code switching

13. Code What’s a code in language studies?
“ a language or a variety of a language as a code. The term is useful because it is neutral. Terms like dialect, language, style, standard language, pidgin, and creole are inclined to arouse emotions. In contrast, the ‘neutral’ term code, taken from information theory, can be used to refer to any kind of system that two or more people employ for communication”

14. Diglossia
A diglossic situation exists in a society when it has two distinct codes which show clear functional separation; that is, one code is employed in one set of circumstances and the other in an entirely different set
Diglossia is a relatively stable language situation in which, in addition to the primary dialects of the language (which may include a standard or regional standards), there is a very divergent, highly codified (often grammatically more complex) superposed variety, the vehicle of a large and respected body of written literature, either of an earlier period or in another speech community, which is learned largely by formal education and is used for most written and formal spoken purposes but is not used by any sector of the community for ordinary conversation. (Ferguson,1959)
Ferguson, 1959 identified four language situations which show the major characteristics of the diglossic phenomenon: Arabic, Swiss German, Haitian (French and Creole), and Greek.*(p:89)-class

15. Bilingualism and Multilingualism
Bilingualism and multilingualism are normal in many parts of the world and that people in those parts would view any other situation as strange and limiting.
Social view:
There is a long history in certain Western societies of people actually ‘looking down’ on those who are bilingual. We give prestige to only a certain few classical languages (e.g., Greek and Latin) or modern languages of high culture (e.g., English, French, Italian, and German).
Bilingualism is actually sometimes regarded as a problem in that many bilingual individuals tend to occupy rather low positions in society and knowledge of another language becomes associated with ‘inferiority.’
Bilingualism is sometimes seen as a personal and social problem, not something that has strong positive connotations. One unfortunate consequence is that some Western societies go to great lengths to downgrade, even eradicate, the languages that immigrants bring with them while at the same time trying to teach foreign languages in schools.

16. Bilingualism and Multilingualism
The effect on languages involved:
A bilingual, or multilingual, situation can produce still other effects on one or more of the languages involved. It can lead to loss, e.g., language loss among immigrants. But sometimes it leads to diffusion; that is, certain features spread from one language to the other (or others) as a result of the contact situation, particularly certain kinds of syntactic features. This phenomenon has been observed in such areas as the Balkans, the south of India, and Sri Lanka.
One linguistic consequence, however, is that there has been some convergence of the languages that are spoken in the village so far as syntax is concerned, but vocabulary differences have been maintained ). It is vocabulary rather than syntax which now serves to distinguish the groups, and the variety of multilingualism that has resulted is a special local variety which has developed in response to local needs.

17. Code-switching
Gal (1988) says, ‘codeswitching is a conversational strategy used to establish, cross or destroy group boundaries; to create, evoke or change interpersonal relations with their rights and obligations.’
Code-switching can be a very useful social skill. The converse of this, of course, is that we will be judged by the code we choose to employ on a particular occasion.
People have distinct feelings about various codes: they find some accents ‘unpleasant,’ others ‘beautiful’; some registers ‘stuffy’; some styles ‘pedantic’
Code-switching can arise from individual choice or be used as a major identity marker for a group of speakers who must deal with more than one language in their common pursuits.
Linguistic prejudice, either for or against particular accents, dialects, or languages, is a fact of life, a fact we must recognize. However, we must also remember that it is often all too easy to think that someone who uses learned words, beautifully constructed sentences, and a prestige accent must be saying something worthwhile and that someone who uses common words, much ‘slurring,’ and a regional accent cannot have anything of interest to say!

18. Assignment
Read “Distribution and Characteristics + from pidgin to creole” then discuss the case of Maltese Language. Do you think it emerged as a pidgin then became a creole? Why or why not.
WRITE YOUR ANSWER IN SHORT ESSAY 150W.
SUBMISSION DATE: Sunday 15 OCT 2017 

19. Good luck