Pidgin and Creoles

A pidgin is a language with no native speakers; it is no one language but is a contact language. It is the products of a multilingual situation in which a simple code of communication is a need. A pidgin is sometimes regarded as a ‘reduced’ variety of a ‘normal’ language, with the simplification of grammar and vocabulary of that language, considerable phonological variation, etc.  In contrast to a pidgin, a ‘creole’ is just a normal language in just about every sense. Like a normal language, creole has native speaker. But similar to pidgin, a creole has a complex relationship to the usually standardized language to which it is associated.

Pidgin and Creole arises from the basic needs that people who speak different language have to find common system of communication which is often known as lingua franca. UNESCO (1953) defines lingua franca as ‘a language which is used habitually by people whose mother tongue are different in order to facilitate communication between them’. A lingua franca can be spoken in a variety of ways. Not only is it spoken differently in places but also individual speakers vary widely in their ability to use the languages.