PIDGIN AND CREOLE

 SOCIOLINGUISTIC BOOK'S

Before 1930s some linguists ignored pidgin and creole because it seems as marginal languages and it makes bad for their careers. Although these languages are importance to our understanding of language. These languages appear in poor and dark situations of society. so as languages pidgin and creole do not have social power. So they could be safely to ignored by society. But the study of pidgins and creoles become important for sociolinguistic because we can see how process of language origin and change on around us. 

A.   Lingual Francas 

Lingual francas can use to facilitate communication between people whose have different mother tongues. Lingual francas has four functions for example trade language, contact language international language and an axillary language. The consequences of population migration or for purpose of trade make develop for lingual francas.

            In the colonial era, Malay language was used as a trading language known as lingual franca for the purpose of communication in trade. During the Dutch colonial period they did not want to introduce Dutch to be a language of communication because they were not intended to spread Dutch culture. Therefore Malay language remains the lingual franca language between the Dutch and the natives.

            Another example we can see the many island in Indonesia and they used different language to communicate. For example the Javanese language. in Surabaya the Javanese language used tends to be rough. But if in Yogjakarta the Javanese language is more refined. If two people who use different language of communication or called lingual franca. But after the existence of Indonesia as the language of unity, two people from different regions can use as lingual franca that is understood by both people who are communicating.

B.   Pidgin and creole

1.      Definitions

            Pidgin is a language without native speaker. It is not anyone’s first language but it is contact language. so, pidgin is a product of a multilingual situation who want to communicate must find or improvise a simple language system that will allow them. In another situation one language dominate position between other speakers. Therefore Pidgin is sometimes considered a ‘reduce’ variation from ‘normal’ language. With simplification of grammar and vocabulary to make special needs of contact group.

            Three languages are needs for process of pidginization. When three languages are involved and one is dominant, speakers of two or more lower ones seem to play an important role in yhe development of pidgin. They must not only talk to those in dominant position, but they must also talk to each other. To do this, they must simplify the dominant language in certain ways, and this process of simplification may or may not have certain universal characteristics. We may argue, therefore that pidgin arises from simplification of language when language dominates groups of from each other by language differences.

In ancient times many countries came to Indonesia to buy species. They come from various countries. Then they have conversation with pribumi or local people. But what language was used at the time. For example Chinese came to Indonesia. So they make a new language to communicate with local people or we can could pidgin.    

             

Pidgins is not a type of ‘baby-talk’ used by adults because simplified forms are the best that these people can manage. Pidgin have it has special rules, and as we will see, very different pidgins have a number of things in common that raise important theoretical problems relating to their origin. Individual Pidgins can be temporary, for example, German Pidgin from Gastarbeiters (guest-workers) in Germany which developed in the 1970s and 1980s in cities likes Berlin and Frankfurt among workers from countries such as Turkey, Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal. That phenomenon however is persistent and between 2 and 12 million people in the world is estimated to use one or the other from them. In addition they are used for very important things for those who care, even for self-government in Papua New Guinea. They are very functional in the lives of those who use them and are important for that reason alone if nothing else.

In contrast to Pidgin, Creole is often defined as Pidgin which has become the first language of a new generation of speakers. As Aitchison (1994, p 3177) says, “Creole arises when pidgins become a mother tongue” because it’s Creole, its ‘normal’ language in almost anything. Holmes says that a creole is a pidgin that has developed in structure and vocabulary to express the range of meanings and serve the various functions needed from the first language.

2.   

   Distribution and Characteristics

The languages of pidgin and creole have become widespread even though they are not exclusively distributed in the world usually in a place close to the sea. Because the area is intended for trade. During the colonial period in Indonesia, VOC established a trading center in Batavia or now called Jakarta. The trade area is getting wider throughout Indonesia. They made Malay into a trading language at the time.

Characteristic basically pidgin and creole have the following characteristics:

-          Incomplete clause structure

-          Reduction and omission of syllables, or words

-          Reduction of consonant groups

-          Use of basic vowel letters (a,I,u,e,o)

-          Use of reduplication to explain plural, superlative, and other parts of reinforcing the concept.

3.      Origin

Linguists who have studied pidgin and creoles have long been attracted by the similarities they find between them. Pidgins from very different parts of the world show extraordinary similarities in structure even when the language standard associated with them are very different. Furthermore, pidgins and creoles based on the same standard language but found in places far from each other may have a high level of mutual understanding. Various French varieties that are proclaimed and creole are found geographically so far apart from Carabbiean, Indian Ocean and South Pacific for example views can sometimes be related to other, namely European languages are somehow ‘better’ than others and many people speak ‘primitive’ languages, that is languages that are ‘lacking’ in certain respects. Such deficiencies can occur cited as evidence that the person himself is inferior. We must note that linguist cannot find a ‘primitive language’, which claims about the intellectual flaws associated with most ‘racists’ and that is this theory of pidgins ignoring important facts.

4.   

   Pidgin to Creol

Whatever its origins, it is generally recognized that Pidgin almost always involved in the early stages of Creole. Pidgin comes from the need to communicate, especially when those who need to communicate speak various languages and speakers of ‘target’ languages are ‘superior’ in a certain sense and may be temporary too. Thus, pidginization seems to have occurred and seems to be happening repeatedly, because that is one of basic means by which linguistic contact is made between speakers of various languages who find themselves in asymmetrical social relations, that is, one in which there is an imbalance serious power. A very interesting fact is how similar the result is from place to place and from time to time. Not every pidgin eventually becomes a creole, e.g., experience a process of creation. In fact, very few to do it. Most pidgins are lingual francas, there to meet temporary local needs. They are spoken by people who use other languages or other languages to serve most of their needs and the needs of their children. If is no longer needed, it will die. It might also be continually recreated three is a reason to believes, for example, that pidgin English or Hawaiian English Pidgins has an unbroken history.     

ASSIGNMENT

1. PLEASE CREATE THE PROCESS/THE WAY PIDGIN BEING CREOLE WITH  YOUR OWN STYLE. You can describe it toward description, video, animation, cycle, or others way. Then, please give the clear explanation and examples!