World Englishes Jennifer Jenkins

1. World EnglishesJennifer Jenkins A resource book for students

2. Strand 2: Pidgins and creoles • Definition pidgin A pidgin is a language with no native speakers: it is no one’s first language but is a contact language. (Wardhaugh 2006: 61–3) • Definition creole In contrast to a pidgin, a creole is often defined as a pidgin that has become the first language of a new generation of speakers. (Wardhaugh 2006: 61–3) A2

3. Pidgins • Stigmatisation as inferior, ‘bad’ languages • European expansion into Africa and Asia during colonial period • Contact languages between ‘dominant’ European language speakers and speakers of mutually unintelligible indigenous African and American languages • Fulfils restricted communicative needs between people who do not share a common language • Little need for grammatical redundancy A2

4. Creoles Creolisation: development of a pidgin into a creole A: children of pidgin speakers use their parents’ pidgin language as a mother tongue  creole B: pidgin is used as a lingua franca in multilingual areas and develops to be used for an increasing number of functions  creole • Vocabulary expands and grammar increases in complexity Decreolisation: through extensive contact with the dominant language develops towards standard dominant language A2

5. Theoriesof origins • Three groups of theories 1 Monogenesis: pidgins have a single origin 2 Polygenesis: pidgins have an independent origin 3 Universal: pidgins derive from universal strategies A2

6. Monogenesis The theory of monogenesis and relexification: • All European-based pidgins and creoles derive ultimately from one proto-pidgin source, a Portuguese pidgin that was used in the world’s trade routes during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries • Evidence for this theory: many linguistic similarities between present-day Portuguese pidgins and creoles, and pidgins and creoles related to other European languages A2

7. Polygenesis The independent parallel development theory: • Pidgins and creoles arose and developed independently, but in similar ways because they shared a common linguistic ancestor • Pidgins and creoles were formed in similar social and physical conditions A2

8. Polygenesis The nautical jargon theory: • A nautical jargon, i.e. the European sailors’ lingua franca, formed a nucleus for the various pidgins, which were expanded in line with their learners’ mother tongues • Evidence for this theory: nautical element in all pidgins and creoles with European lexicons A2

9. Universal The baby talk theory: • Based on similarities between certain pidgins and early speech of children • Also because speakers of the dominant language use foreigner talk (simplified speech) with L2 speakers A2

10. Universal A synthesis: • Based on universal patterns of linguistic behaviour in contact situations • Inherent universal constraints on language • Evidence for this theory: proficient as well as less proficient speakers from different L1s and speech communities simplify their language in very similar ways; children go through the same stages in the mastery of speech A2

11. Characteristics of pidgins and creoles • Lexis • Drawn from lexifier language (usually a European language) • Systematic and rule-governed • Concepts encoded in lengthier ways • Extensive use of reduplication • Pronunciation • Fewer sounds • Simplification of consonant clusters • Conflation • Large number of homophones B2

12. Characteristics of pidgins and creoles • Grammar • Few inflections in nouns, pronouns, verbs and adjectives • Simple negative particle for negation • Uncomplicated clause structure • Development of pidgins  creoles • Assimilation and reduction • Expansion of vocabulary • Development of tense system in verbs • Greater sentence complexity B2

13. Characteristics of pidgins and creoles • Social functions • Wide range of social functions beyond the original purpose to serve as basic contact languages • Literature (written and oral) • Education • Mass media • Advertising • The Bible B2

14. London Jamaican • A combination of Jamaican Creole and a local form of non-standard English • Powerful marker of group identity • Shows grammatical, phonological and lexical features of Jamaican Creole • Also shows features of London English which do not occur in Jamaican Creole C2

15. Ebonics • Also known as Africa-American Vernacular English (AAVE) • No agreement on how it developed • Debate about its status and the approach to be taken in schools • Oakland school board: Ebonics regarded as valid linguistic system and as second language, used as language of instruction • Strong reactions: many opposed this approach, some were in favour C2