Pidgin arises as a result. French-based Creole languages

Franco-Creole languages ​​developed in the Indian Ocean and Caribbean areas; The best known example of a French-based creole is Haitian, which has approximately 5 million native speakers. Related varieties are spoken in the French Antilles, including Guadeloupe and Martinique, and less and less in the US state of Louisiana.

The Seychelles, Reunion and Mauritius islands, located in the Indian Ocean, were formerly French colonies that produced spices, coffee, and cotton. Mauritius and the Seychelles developed a French-based creole called Isle du France, while Réunion Creole is closer to standard French and is considered semi-Creole. Mauritian Creole has about a million speakers, and is closely related to the French Creole language spoken on the small island of Rodrigues.

LULLABY SONG IN CARIBBEAN CREOL

The lullaby, recorded by Nicole Gruz, clearly shows some of the characteristic features of the Creole language of Fr. Saint Barthelemy, part of the French Antilles.

Most of the words are recognizable as French, but the grammar of the language is completely different from French. The sentences have completely different word order. (papa moin instead of top papa) and the word "moin", like many pronouns in Creole languages, it means "I", "me, me" and "my". The future tense is expressed by the form kale, which is based on French aller("go").

SPANISH-BASED CREOL LANGUAGES

The result of Spanish colonization of the Caribbean region was the emergence of two creole languages. Palenquero, the language of a runaway slave colony spoken off the coast of Colombia, was only recognized as a creole in the 1960s and fell into disuse almost immediately thereafter.

Papiamentu, which is spoken on the islands of Curacao, Aruba and Bonaire, is not a very common language, since in addition to Spanish elements it also contains Portuguese, which is reflected in the very name of this language and in the name of the island of Curacao.

The Philippine Spanish-Creole language - Chabacano - developed as a result of the introduction of Spanish garrisons to the islands to protect the southern Philippine "Spice Islands" (Moluccas Islands). It contains many Tagalog and Cebuano vocabulary elements and grammatical features, particularly reduplicated plurals (cosa-cosa,"things"), typical of local Austronesian languages.

In terms of structure, Pidgin English is similar to all other languages, but has simplified grammar and a small number of words. They have clearly defined phonological systems that can be written in scientific transcription or in orthographies applicable to different languages. It is always preferable to write a pidgin in a phonologically based orthography rather than imitate the orthography of a European language, so as not to create the false impression that a pidgin is a corrupted form of a particular European language. For example, using a phonologically based orthography rather than copying the English spelling of words, an expression meaning "This house is big" in Neo-Melanesian would look like Disfela haus i-bigfela, but not Dis fellow house "e big fellow .

In addition, there are words of English origin, adapted, for example, by Melanesian pidgin, and which have lost the phonetics of the “host language”. This led to words that had completely different pronunciations in English becoming homophones in pidgin, as happened in Tok Pisin: English Tok Pisin: shell (“shell”) sel- sail ("sail") sel; cheese sis- sister ("sister") sis; hard ("heavy") hat- hot ("hot") hat .

Possible homonymy is eliminated by adding additional elements to the words: nail (“nail”) nil; knee nildaun; ship sip; sheep ("sheep") sipsip; cut kat,katim; cat ("cat") pusi .

Most pidgins have very simplified grammatical systems. In many respects they differ from what is traditionally perceived as the norm: many familiar categories, such as number, gender, or definite and indefinite articles, may be absent, and at the same time, unusual elements may be present, such as predicate markers or locative suffixes . Therefore, the myth arose that pidgins “have no grammar.”

So, in the neo-Melanesian language, for example, there are three suffixes: -fela- plural indicator for personal pronouns ( mi"I, me, me" - mifela"we, us, us"); other suffix -fela, which joins adjectives but has no plural meaning (for example, nufela"new", wanfela"one"); and suffix -im, which is attached to verbs and indicates that the sentence has a direct object or its presence is implied (for example, bringim"bring it" mi bringim kaikai"I bring food").

Verbs usually lack endings and suffixes, but the conditions, circumstances, and time of events are indicated by the words preceding the verbs. These are the so-called species-time markers. So, the past tense is determined by the presence of the word "wen" before the predicate in the sentence: Dey wen pein hiz skin - They painted his skin. Future events, as well as those that have not yet taken place, are characterized by the words "go", "gon" or "gona": Yu gon trn in yaw pepa leit? - Are you going to turn in your paper late?. The actions taking place at a given moment in time are evidenced by the presence of the word "ste", which can appear before a verb with or without an ing ending: Da kaet ste it da fish - The cat's eating the fish. A verb without an ending is used only in in the case when during a conversation the interlocutor already knows what is being discussed.

However, there are pidgins that have very complex grammar. In the pronoun system, for example, there are a number of features that do not exist in English, but which are very important in Tok Pisin. First, while English has only one form of the second person pronoun, Tok Pisin has separate forms for the second person singular and the second person plural: ui,"you" ("you"); yupela,"you" ("you"). Similarly, Tok Pisin further distinguishes between "inclusive" and "exclusive" forms of the first person plural pronoun, depending on whether the pronoun includes the one to whom the speech is addressed or not: yumi"we" (including you); mipela"we" (excluding you). The third difference is that there are different plural forms for two and three persons: mitupela"we" (two); yumitripela"we" (three).

The syntax of pidgins also reveals many unusual constructions. In Neomelanesian, for example, a noun (or any other part of speech except an adjective) following another noun is a modifier of that preceding noun; For example, haus kaikai means "house of food, dining room", haus kuk means "cooking house, kitchen", and man nogud means “bad person” (and the word nogud itself is an adverb meaning “undesirable”). In pidgins and creoles there are also types of sentences that seem strange to us, in particular the identification sentence, in which the predicate contains not a verb, but a noun or adjective that is identified with the subject; for example, in Neomelanesian: desfela meri i-naisfela"This woman is beautiful."

A number of Hawaiian pidgin sentences are characterized by the presence of "ste" when indicating the location: Da kaet ste in da haus. - The cat "s in the house; using the verb "get" instead of phrases "there is/ there are": Get tu mach turis naudeiz. - There are too many tourists nowadays; using "haed" instead of "there was/ there were" : Haed dis ol grin haus. - There was this old green house. .

Because pidgins have a very limited vocabulary, individual words often take on a much broader meaning than they have in the source language. In Neomelanesian language sari means not only the same as the English word sorry(“sorry, sorry, sorry”), but also “emotionally excited”, and hence, ultimately, “glad”; in parts of New Guinea sari tumas"very glad (to see you)" is a standard form of greeting. The need to expand the vocabulary of pidgins to meet the needs of their native speakers often led to large-scale borrowing of words from one European language or another, usually from the language of the colonial authorities of the region where the pidgin was spoken.

In the pidgin English system, there are also words that seem simple at first glance, but in fact have non-standard and very unexpected meanings, these are the so-called “false friends of the translator”. This can often lead to complete misunderstanding. Below are some examples of such words that, in addition to their direct, obvious and understandable meanings, have additional non-standard meanings. These examples clearly show how the semantic properties of words from local languages ​​can manifest themselves in pidgin English.

Pidgin English	Inferred meaning	Additional meaning
		hair, feather
		produce
		owner
		husband's or wife's parents
	enough	capable
		beloved
	race(s), race	compete
		be approximately
	Plant	bury
	screw, screw	connect, knee
	sit down	Lifestyle
	Sharpen	cut

In studies of modern linguistics, it is now increasingly noted that language researchers are faced with the task of a deeper and more thorough study of pidgins, for which the following principles have been defined:

· comparison of the structural features of Pidgin English with the structural features of the English language;

· comparison of individual Pidgin English options;

· comparison of Pidgin English, which differ from each other in their original genetic material, in order to identify typological universals common to all Pidgin English languages.

Thus, despite the widespread disdain for Pidgin English as second-class languages, these languages ​​have their own laws and rules that must be studied and systematized. It is possible that these languages ​​will not soon be considered by educators and politicians as real languages ​​of wide communication, however, like any dialect forms of the English language, they have the right to exist and be studied.

Under certain conditions, active contacts between languages ​​can lead to the formation of pidgins. What is pidgin and under what conditions does it arise? Pidgin is a mixed language that is formed, as a rule, in the process of colonial conquests and is used for communication between alien colonizers and the indigenous population of the country. Pidgin is not a native language for anyone, but is only a tool for interethnic communication.

At the initial stage of its formation, pidgin is characterized by extremely primitive grammar and a very small vocabulary. Pidgin is used only in a fairly limited area of ​​communication: trade and performing physical work that does not require special qualifications. Pidgin vocabulary, as a rule, is more than 90% formed on the basis of the language of the alien colonizers. It cannot be otherwise, since the reason for the formation of pidgin is, on the one hand, the attempts of the aborigines to communicate with the aliens in the language of these aliens, and on the other hand, the reluctance of the colonizers to get acquainted with the languages ​​of the native population.

The phonetics of pidgins, on the contrary, gravitates towards the phonetics of aboriginal languages: when pronouncing foreign words, the natives articulate sounds in them in the same way as in their native languages ​​they avoid sounds and their combinations that are difficult for them to pronounce.

Pidgin grammar is always extremely analytical. Inflection is completely or almost completely absent. The main means of conveying grammatical meaning is word order. The main way of word formation is compounding. Moreover, the number of motivated words in pidgins is, as a rule, higher than in the European languages ​​on the basis of which they arose.

The first pidgins based on English, French and Portuguese arose in the 15th-17th centuries on the west coast of Africa in connection with the appearance of the first slave trading posts there at that time. Subsequently, as a result of the colonialist policies of the European powers, the process of pidgin formation spread to the islands of Oceania and the Latin American continent. In total, linguists have recorded about fifty different pidgins in the world.

There were several pidgins based on the Russian language: Amur pidgin, Negidal-Russian, Volga, Kyakhtin. The most studied among them is the Kyakhta (Maimachinsky) pidgin, which was used throughout the 19th century in the area of ​​​​the city of Kyakhta, which at that time was the center of border trade with Mongolia and China. The main lexical fund of this pidgin was borrowed from the Russian language. Borrowings from Chinese and Mongolian amount to less than a dozen words: “bichi” (Mongolian write), “fuza” (Chinese shop), “hao” (Chinese excellent, bravo), “zha-zha-zha” (Chinese ha -ha-ha), “oh!” (Chinese interjection expressing disagreement with the words of the interlocutor). In addition, a small number of complex words have been formed in the Kyakhta pidgin, some of which. were probably tracings from Chinese: “hand-boots” (gloves), “tongue-honey” (flattery), “uma-konechaylo” (madness), etc.

The main phonetic law of the Kyakhta pidgin was the law of the open syllable. This means that a syllable in Kyakhta pidgin could only end with a vowel sound: combinations of two or more consonants were not allowed. In accordance with this law, only those Russian words were borrowed into the Kyakhta pidgin, the phonetic structure of which corresponded to the scheme: consonant - vowel - consonant - vowel: will, people, manner, shirt, hand, etc. Words in which there were combinations of two or several consonants were subjected to phonetic transformations in accordance with the above law. So, for example, the word “bamboo” looked like “bamebuki” in Kyakhta pidgin, the word “collar” looked like “vorotineki”, and the word “silk” looked like “sholeka”. Similar examples can be multiplied.

There was no change in names by case in Kyakhta pidgin. The verb did not change in persons and numbers, but changed in tenses: “for-my-bichi-esa” - “I write”, “for-my-bichi-was” - I wrote, “for-my-bichi-will” - “ I will write, I will write.”

Kyakhta pizdin had one significant difference from all other pidgins that have ever existed and exist today: it was formed not under conditions of colonial conquest, but cross-border trade, and its vocabulary was not based on the vocabulary of the language of aliens (Chinese merchants acted as aliens here) , but the vocabulary of the language of the main population of a given territory.

At the beginning of the 20th century, due to the cessation of cross-border trade, the Kyakhta pidgin fell out of use. Unfortunately, very few monuments of the Kyakhta pidgin have survived, which makes its study difficult.

In a number of cases, when a permanent mixed population develops in the area where a pidgin is used, interethnic contacts become closer, mixed marriages arise, and the pidgin becomes nativized. This means that for a certain circle of people it becomes the native language, the only means of communication not only with representatives of other nationalities, but also within one’s own circle.

The nativization of a pidgin is inevitably accompanied by an expansion of the scope of application of the pidgin and an increase in the number of its functions. The consequence of this is a sharp increase in its vocabulary and a complication of grammatical (primarily syntactic) structures. As a result of nativization, pidgin becomes a full-fledged language. Languages ​​formed on the basis of pidgins are called creole languages.

In some countries that gained independence in the second half of the 20th century, Creole languages ​​acquired the status of state languages. For example, in Papua New Guinea the official language became neo-Melanesian (Tok Pisin), in the Republic of Vanuatu - the Bislama language, in the Solomon Islands - neo-Solomonik, and in the Seychelles - the Seychelles language. Television and radio broadcasts are conducted in these languages, books, newspapers, magazines are published, and teaching is conducted in schools.

Other creole languages, such as Juka in Suriname, Krio in Sierra Leone, Papiamento on the islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, are used almost exclusively in the sphere of oral communication.

A.Yu. Garbage. Fundamentals of the science of language - Novosibirsk, 2004.

Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia

For information about instant messaging, see Pidgin.

Story

Typically, pidginized languages ​​arose during contacts of conquerors with the local population of the conquered territories (for example, European colonizers with colonized peoples), or as a means of equal communication (lingua franca) - usually as a result and for the sake of trade relations. Typically, these quasi-languages ​​are distinguished by primitive grammar and heterogeneity of vocabulary, functioning only as a means of interethnic communication. Initially having a purely utilitarian purpose and low prestige, under certain conditions a pidgin can eventually become quite prestigious, codified and even become the only (native) language for its speakers (as happened, for example, with the children of slaves on plantations), functioning as a full-fledged called a creole language (for example, Bislama and Tok Pisin).

One example of the development of such a pidgin is considered by some to be modern English, which was originally formed as a mixture of Saxon and Old Norse languages, followed by powerful Anglo-Norman and French lexical influence. In modern English, according to some linguists [which ones?] , 30% of root words are of Germanic origin, 31% from French, 20% from Latin, 3% from Greek. The remaining 16% comes from Celtic and other languages.

In the Hawaiian Islands, pidgin is a mixture of Asian languages ​​and English. It uses only simple temporary forms.

Etymology

The origin of the word pidgin is uncertain. The word "pidgin" first appeared in print in 1850. The most likely etymology is from "Beijin English" ("Beijing English").

Examples of pidgins

see also

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Notes

Literature

• Belikov V.I. Pidgins and Creoles of Oceania. Sociolinguistic essay. M., 1998. 198 p.
• // Boeva-Omelechko N. B. A brief explanatory dictionary of sociolinguistic terms. M. Gothika, 2004. 60 p.
• // Kozhemyakina V. A., Kolesnik N. G., Kryuchkova T. B. Dictionary of sociolinguistic terms. M.: Institute of Foreign Languages ​​RAS, 2006, 312 p.

Links

• // Around the World

An excerpt characterizing Pidgin

- How did the star end up in the image? asked Pierre.
- Did you make your mother a general? - said Prince Andrei, smiling.
Pelagia suddenly turned pale and clasped her hands.
- Father, father, it’s a sin for you, you have a son! - she spoke, suddenly turning from pallor to bright color.
- Father, what did you say? God forgive you. - She crossed herself. - Lord, forgive him. Mother, what is this?...” she turned to Princess Marya. She stood up and, almost crying, began to pack her purse. She was obviously both scared and ashamed that she had enjoyed benefits in a house where they could say this, and it was a pity that she now had to be deprived of the benefits of this house.
- Well, what kind of hunting do you want? - said Princess Marya. -Why did you come to me?...
“No, I’m joking, Pelageyushka,” said Pierre. - Princesse, ma parole, je n"ai pas voulu l"offenser, [Princess, I'm right, I didn't want to offend her,] I just did that. Don’t think I was joking,” he said, smiling timidly and wanting to make amends. - After all, it’s me, and he was only joking.
Pelageyushka stopped incredulously, but Pierre's face showed such sincerity of repentance, and Prince Andrei looked so meekly first at Pelageyushka, then at Pierre, that she gradually calmed down.

The wanderer calmed down and, brought back into conversation, talked for a long time about Father Amphilochius, who was such a saint of life that his hand smelled like palm, and about how the monks she knew on her last journey to Kiev gave her the keys to the caves, and how she, taking crackers with her, spent two days in the caves with the saints. “I’ll pray to one, read, go to another. I’ll take a pine tree, I’ll go and take a kiss again; and such silence, mother, such grace that you don’t even want to go out into the light of God.”
Pierre listened to her carefully and seriously. Prince Andrei left the room. And after him, leaving God’s people to finish their tea, Princess Marya led Pierre into the living room.
“You are very kind,” she told him.
- Oh, I really didn’t think of offending her, I understand and highly value these feelings!
Princess Marya silently looked at him and smiled tenderly. “After all, I have known you for a long time and love you like a brother,” she said. – How did you find Andrey? - she asked hastily, not giving him time to say anything in response to her kind words. - He worries me very much. His health is better in winter, but last spring the wound opened, and the doctor said that he should go for treatment. And morally I am very afraid for him. He is not the type of character we women are to suffer and cry out our grief. He carries it inside himself. Today he is cheerful and lively; but it was your arrival that had such an effect on him: he is rarely like this. If only you could persuade him to go abroad! He needs activity, and this smooth, quiet life is ruining him. Others don't notice, but I see.
At 10 o'clock the waiters rushed to the porch, hearing the bells of the old prince's carriage approaching. Prince Andrei and Pierre also went out onto the porch.
- Who is this? - asked the old prince, getting out of the carriage and guessing Pierre.
– AI is very happy! “kiss,” he said, having learned who the unfamiliar young man was.
The old prince was in good spirits and treated Pierre kindly.
Before dinner, Prince Andrei, returning back to his father’s office, found the old prince in a heated argument with Pierre.
Pierre argued that the time would come when there would be no more war. The old prince, teasing but not angry, challenged him.
- Let the blood out of your veins, pour some water, then there will be no war. “A woman’s nonsense, a woman’s nonsense,” he said, but still affectionately patted Pierre on the shoulder and walked up to the table where Prince Andrei, apparently not wanting to engage in conversation, was sorting through the papers the prince had brought from the city. The old prince approached him and began to talk about business.
- The leader, Count Rostov, did not deliver half of the people. I came to the city, decided to invite him to dinner, - I gave him such a dinner... But look at this... Well, brother, - Prince Nikolai Andreich turned to his son, clapping Pierre on the shoulder, - well done, your friend, I loved him! Fires me up. The other one speaks smart things, but I don’t want to listen, but he lies and inflames me, an old man. Well, go, go,” he said, “maybe I’ll come and sit at your dinner.” I'll argue again. Love my fool, Princess Marya,” he shouted to Pierre from the door.

Pidgin is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups that do not. Essentially, it is an artificial language that is a mixture of two or more adverbs to achieve mutual understanding between ethnic groups.

The emergence of simplified languages

Traditionally, simplified languages ​​arose from the interaction of representatives of European culture with the peoples they colonized (indigenous peoples of South and North America, as well as adjacent islands, for example, the island of Jamaica). The second way of occurrence, caused by the need to conduct joint trade, is business contacts of different ethnic groups. As a rule, these pidgin languages ​​are simplified and are only means of interethnic interaction and communication. The vocabulary volume of such an adverb is usually no more than one and a half thousand words, but it is enough for the simplest communication on accessible topics.

If a primitive simplified pidgin becomes native to the children of an ethnic group (as happened, for example, with the descendants of slaves on South American plantations), it can develop into a creole language (for example, the dialects of island creoles - Bislama and Tok Pisin).

Origin of the term

The origin of this concept is not entirely clear. It has been suggested that the word comes from the Chinese pronunciation of the English word business(“business”), but there is also a theory that this term originates from the expression pigeon English(“pigeon English”), referring to carrier pigeons, which traditionally symbolized the transmission of information and mail. Chinese word pidgin had its origin from the name of the Jīng River, located along the border of lands leased by the French and British in Shanghai.

The concept of “pidgin English” arose at the end of the 19th century. This name is given to a mixed dialect that was used by English-speaking businessmen to trade with the Chinese in Guangzhou. It was a mixture of Chinese, English and Portuguese. During the 18th and 19th centuries in China, pidgin English was the lingua franca language and was called “Guangzhou English”.

A Brief History of Pidgin Languages

"Pidgin" is an older term than "lingua franca" or "sabir" (the dialect of Mediterranean sailors and traders). Sabir originated in the fourteenth century and continued to be used until the end of the nineteenth century. Many other pidgins arose during the trading activities of Europeans with other ethnic groups.

Another source of origin for Pijdin languages ​​was the importation and colonization of American and Caribbean slaves of African descent. As a result of the combination of various dialects spoken by the captives, various pidgins were formed. Slaves captured by slave owners had to interact with each other. Thus, the dialects of various ethnic groups, often unknown or hostile to each other, also mixed with the languages ​​of the colonial landowners and natives (Indians), which gave rise to many mixtures, most of which stabilized in various creole dialects.

The combination of Portuguese, Spanish and the Guarani languages ​​resulted in pidgins such as Lingua Geral or Neen Gatu, which were spoken in the Amazon basin (South America), as well as throughout Paraguay (called "hopara" there). The Brazilian pidgin umbanda, used for rituals, continues to this day. The Caribbean islands are also home to a large number of Creoles who speak their local dialects.

Use of pidgin languages

Pidgin is most often used in cases where it is necessary to achieve mutual understanding among speakers of different languages.

For example, trade and business with foreigners or where both groups speak languages ​​different from the one in which they live (but where there is no common language between the groups). It is fundamentally important to understand that pidgin is a simplified means of linguistic communication, since it is constructed impromptu, or by agreement between individuals or groups of people. This language is not native to any linguistic community; its speakers use it as a second language.

A pidgin can be formed from the words, sounds, or sign language of several diverse cultures. These primitive dialects allow people who do not have a common language to communicate with each other. Pidgin generally has little prestige compared to other languages ​​due to its limited use.

Each simplified language has its own norms of use, which must be learned by the speakers of this means of communication. For example, pidgin English has fairly strict rules for use.

Difference from creole languages

Sometimes the definitions of "pidgin" and "creole languages" are confused because they are quite similar

A pidgin is different from that which is native to its speakers. Creole languages ​​have a comprehensively developed vocabulary and grammar. Most linguists believe that creole dialects develop through the process of being born from a pidgin, when the children of pidgin speakers learned it and began to use it as a mother tongue for everyday communication among themselves.

Russenorsk

Russenorsk is an example of an artificial language based on Slavic. This pidgin in linguistics is a classic example of the language of commerce. It is of interest to study by linguists. Russenorsk is an extinct simplified language that was formerly used in the Arctic. It combines elements of Russian and Norwegian and was created by traders and fishermen from Northern Norway and Russia's Kola Peninsula. It was widely used in Northern Norway for about 150 years in the Pomeranian trade.

Roussenorsk is an important example for the study of pidgin theory, as it was used only in spoken language, unlike most other simplified languages ​​that left their mark on written media. The Russian-Norwegian dialect has undergone the traditional development of a primitive dialect for trade and interaction between peoples who do not have a common language. This is due to the need to create some kind of minimal connection for communication. Like all pidgins, Roussenorsk had rudiments of grammar and a limited vocabulary, mainly consisting of words needed in the Arctic for fishing and trade (for example, it is characterized by the terms "fish", "weather", "fisherman", "payment", "weight"). But there were other words that were not particularly related to each other and trading activities (“music”, “politics”, “history”).

Russian-Chinese pidgin

Also one of the examples of simplified languages ​​is Russian-Chinese pidgin. It was quite primitive and was used for communication between traders on the Chinese-Russian border (Amur region) in the 19th century. This dialect was called the Maimachin language and was even specially studied by Russian merchants. For Chinese seasonal workers, it was mandatory to study. This pidgin existed until the mid-1930s, when Stalin’s decrees deported most Chinese migrants back to their homeland. During its heyday, the Maimachin language was spoken by about a million people, mostly Chinese.

Taimyr dialect

Another example of a pidgin language based on Russian - this is the so-called Taimyr dialect.

It appeared thanks to the interaction of the Russian population and the indigenous Taimyr people (various Taimyr ethnic groups). In Russia, it was distributed on the territory of the Taimyr Peninsula at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. However, with the advent of Soviet power and the introduction of universal secondary education, the “Taimyr dialect” gradually disappeared.

In Russia, ethnic groups of the peoples of Bashkiria and Primorye also created their own various pidgins for contact with the Russian-speaking population.