This book provides explanations for the emergence of contact languages, especially pidgins and creoles. It assesses the current state of research and examines aspects of current theories and approaches that have excited much controversy and debate. The book answers questions such as: How valid is the notion of a pidgin-creole-postcreole life cycle? Why are many features of pidgins and creoles simple in formal terms compared to other languages? And what is the origin of the grammatical innovations in expanded pidgins and creoles - linguistic universals, conventional language change, the influence of features of languages in the contact environment, or a mix of two or more factors? In addressing these issues, the author looks at research on processes of second language acquisition and use, including simplification, overgeneralization, and language transfer. He shows how these processes can account for many of the characteristics of contact languages, and proposes linguistic and sociolinguistic constraints on their application in language contact. His analysis is supported with detailed examples and case studies from Pidgin Fijian, Melanesian Pidgin, Hawai'i Creole, New Caledonian Tayo and Australian Kriol, which he uses as well to assess the merits of competing theories of language genesis. Professor Siegel also considers his research's wider implications for linguistic theory.

The content of this book is concerned with various issues at stake in Creole studies that are also of interest for general linguistics. These include the general issue of Creole genesis and of the accelerated linguistic change that characterizes the emergence of these languages as compared to ordinary cases of linguistic change, the problem of the development of morphology in incipient Creoles, the problem of the validity of data in linguistic analysis, the issue of multifunctionality as regards the concept of lexical entry, the question of whether Creole languages are semantically more transparent than languages not known as Creoles, the issue of whether Creole languages constitute a typologically identifiable class and the problem of the interaction between the processes involved in the emergence and development of Creole languages. The purpose of this book is to present the major debates that are currently taking place in the field of Creole studies; evaluate the arguments against data (mainly drawn from Haitian Creole); and address the issues at stake within the framework of new paradigms. The various positions on each issue are summarized on the basis of a thorough review of the literature.

The most authoritative guide ever published to the world's pidgin and creole languages. The 3-volume Survey describes their histories and linguistic characteristics. The Atlas of Pidgins and Creoles, published at the same time, shows how 130 linguistic features are distributed among the world's languages.

The Routledge Handbook of Pidgin and Creole Languages offers a state-of-the-art collection of original contributions in the area of Pidgin and Creole studies. Providing unique and equal coverage of nearly all parts of the world where such languages are found, as well as situating each area within a rich socio-historical context, this book presents fresh and diverse interdisciplinary perspectives from leading voices in the field. Divided into three sections, its analysis covers: Space and place – areal perspective on pidgin and creole languages Usage, function and power – sociolinguistic and artistic perspectives on pidgins and creoles, creoles as sociocultural phenomena Framing of the study of pidgin and creole languages – history of the field, interdisciplinary connections Demonstrating how fundamentally human and natural these communication systems are, how rich in expressive power and sophisticated in their complexity, The Routledge Handbook of Pidgin and Creole Languages is an essential reference for anyone with an interest in this area.

The Atlas presents commentaries and colour maps showing how 130 linguistic features - phonological, syntactic, morphological, and lexical - are distributed among the world's pidgins and creoles. Designed and written by the world's leading experts, it is a unique resource of outstanding value for linguists of all persuasions throughout the world.

Featuring an international contributor list, this long-awaited and broad-ranging collection examines the key issues, topics and research in pidgin and creole studies. A comprehensive reference work exploring the treatment of core aspects of pidgins/creoles, focusing on the questions that animate creole studies Brings together newly-commissioned entries by an international contributor team Accessibly structured into four sections covering: the character of pidgins and creoles; the relation of pidgins/creoles to other language phenomena and other languages; issues in pidgin/creole genesis; and the role of pidgins/creoles in society Provides a valuable resource for students, scholars and researchers working across a number linguistic disciplines, including sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, and the anthropology of language

This book defines and describes the linguistic features of these languages and considers the dynamic developments that bring them into being and lead to changes in their structure.

This book is for the memory of John E. Reinecke, a man whose humanistic activism and sharp-hewn scholarship helped to shape the scientific study of pidgin and creole languages throughout much of the twentieth century. Reinecke was both a social reformer and a leading sociolinguistic researcher working with creole languages and societies that derive from diverse groups of people thrown into close social contact. Most notably, Reinecke's keen sense of social justice has had a telling effect on the social history of Hawaii. Along with his persistent efforts to obtain a fair and equal share for wage earners in sharply stratified societies, his attention early became focused on their language. By encouraging others to study what he called "marginal languages," he was able to bring to them (and to the extraordinary issues—theoretical and practical—which they raise) a measure of prestige, both in the eyes of their speakers and in the increased attention accorded them by students of language and society. The book presents a description of Reinecke's life and work, the text of his own last paper on creolistics, and seventeen papers which reflect the range and vitality of the field that he did so much to open. Some of the papers reflect the issue which has come to dominate creole studies—the debate over the role of universals and of specific substrata as competing explanations of the amazing similarities that creoles, and perhaps pidgins also, exhibit across the world. Many describe the intense language contact within which language contraction and expansion occur (they do this either directly, or by supplying new data which will eventually feed such descriptions), and and some are our belated response to calls which Reinecke made in the 1930s. Fifty years ago, he saw the need for the kind of comparative studies which are only now under way—in, for example, Hazel Carter's paper, which represents a pioneering attempt to compare the suprasegmentals of English-based Creoles on both sides of the Atlantic. In his last years, Reinecke strongly supported research on contact languages with non-European lexical bases. He thought this was the area from which future creole studies would derive the greatest theoretical and practical gain, and in this volume six papers answer his call by analyzing such pidgins and creoles.

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2,3, University of Rostock (Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik), course: Enriching English, language: English, abstract: First, I will briefly portray the emergence of pidgin and creole languages and their development towards the post-creole continuum. I will examine the different types of pidgin-creole developments and the phenomenon of decreolizing - the approximation of the creole towards the lexifier by using the example of the Hawaiian Creole that I will also portray out of a socio-historical point of view. That creole is officially still called ‘Hawai’i Pidgin’ by its speakers, but I will avoid using that term in my paper. Therefore, the term Hawai’i Creole English, short HCE, is more appropriate. Furthermore, I will deal with HCE’s phonology, especially with its difference to Standard English, in detail – due to the question whether HCE is decreolizing or not. As Norval S. H. Smith states, creole phonology is a “neglected field” and “younger languages” have the tendency to be not as much irregular as “elder language” tend to be.

This work examines the emergence of pidgins and creoles and the controversies surrounding current theories about them. Among the questions considered are why their grammars are simple at the pidgin-creole-postcreole life cycle, and the causes of grammatical innovation. The analysis is supported with examples and case studies.