Report On The Difference Between Pidgin And Creole

Question

Task: Provide a detailed account of the evident difference between pidgin and creole.

Answer

Before we enumerate the difference between pidgin and creole, the term pidgin needs to be clarified. It signifies the new language in the verbal form, which is composed of more than one language. The major characteristics of it are the fundamental and simple nature of comprising words and sentences. Pidgin is designed for such people who do not speak a particular language. Since it is composed of multiple languages, pidgin is not being used as a native language. Lingua Franca could be considered as one of the best examples for pidgin. The origin of Lingua Franca was among the stock traders. The language of Lingua Franca is also termed as business vocabulary. The business of stock trading is often an international process, and people from various ethnicity, nations, etc. would actively take part in it. It is for the ease of communication among such people that the language of Lingua Franca was developed by them. The presence of such language will help the traders in communicating with each other easily since they practice different languages on a daily basis.

Whereas the term Creoles provides a different context rather than the pidgin. It is the dialect within the pidgin that later evolves into the first dialect of the conversation conducted in a community. When the person involved in pidgin conversation gets very comfortable and affluent in it, the invention of creole takes place. The terms are majorly used in political and social dialogues. If the pidgin language is used for a prolonged period between different communities, it evolves into the first language of certain minority communities. The language Gullah could be considered as one of such best example. Gullah is used among the population in Sea islands which is situated in the southeastern section of the United States.

Difference between pidgin and creole

1. The major difference between pidgin and creole is in their structure. When considered the composition of creole, it has the structure of Subject – Verb – Object. Though in the case of pidgin, the structure of the sentence could be in any possible order. The Creole dialects are often contained with repetitive vocabulary, which is very rare to be found in the Pidgins.
2. The pidgin is composed of various vocabularies and other elements of different linguistic communication that are used exclusively in a particular community or group of people. In other terms, the terms in pidgin could also be termed as jargon or business terms. The vocabularies in it are not used by the people as their first language. Though it is after further development that pidgin is used effortlessly which stages the development of creoles. The creoles gradually became the first language of the particular community.
3. It is by the irregular communication of various terms that would develop creoles. The same term when being introduced to the younger group like children they make particular sentences using these random words and devise out how they could be used properly to commence a systematic communication. The repeated use of pidgin creates a blueprint of the creole. Whereas the pidgins are not suitable for the younger generation, the creole is highly used by them. From the discussion, it is evident that the pidgin doesn't follow any sort of format or blueprint, whereas it is mandatory in creole.
4. The last but not the least significant difference between pidgin and creole is being used as the first language speakers. Whereas the creole is highly used as the first language, the pidgins are not used in a similar way. Devising out an appropriate creole is a very gradual and demanding task though the pidgin could be created effortlessly by referring to some official terms. The pidgins need to be extended in an advanced manner to develop a creole. In most of the cases, the pidgins work as the classifying parameters in between the communities.

Further insight into the difference between pidgin and creole
The learning of a second language which is defined by the constrained amount of vocabulary is termed to be Pidginisation as per the arguments made by Mesthrie et al. As per their observation pidgin is very rare to be used as the first language. The transfer of ideas done by the method of pidgin is very restricted and lacks consistency. However, it is often seen that many of the students describe pidgin as foreign languages, but it is entirely false since they do not even possess the basic and rudimentary structure of a sentence. To be called the language, the sentences should have Subject, Verb, and Object in it. Thus, there is no liability or restriction of grammatical rules on pidgin though the same restrictions are liable on creole. These factors contribute significantly to the difference between pidgin and creole. The terms coming under pidgins could only be classified under the group of the second language, and the major reason for it is the restricted implication of vocabulary rules. If the sentence structure is defined in the set, then it could not be classified under the division of pidgin. The context of pidgin justifies the argument of Mesthrie that the pidgins could be exclusively classified as secondary terms, which has only restricted vision to its meaning.

As mentioned in the previous section of this report, it is the continuous repetition of the pidgin terms that leads to the formation of creole. It takes substantial effort and time in developing an outline and format for the abstract words. The same reason brings the creole under the classification of the first language. The process of creolization brings an appropriate format and blueprint to the unknown set of abstract vocabulary and reduces its earlier restrictions in daily usage. Though the creoles are only used by minority groups in a society, its significance is still very less in the modern world.

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