A pidgin is a language with no
native speakers: it is no one’s first
language but is a contact
Based on KBBI (2008) pidgin (pijin)adalah
pemakaian dua bahasa atau lebih yang
dipermudah sebagai alat komunikasi antara
pendatang dengan penduduk asli.
The process of pidginization
probabaly requires a situation that
involves at least three languages,
one of which is clearly dominant over
A creole is often define as a
pidgin that has become the first
language of a new generation of
Contoh kalimat sehari-hari bahasa kreol
Portugis Tugu di kampung Tugu.
· Yo kere ning kere. ‘Saya suka atau tidak suka.’
· Santai! ‘Duduklah!’
· Parki bas cura? ‘Mengapa engkau menangis?’
· Anda undi bas? ‘Akan ke mana engkau?’
· Yo nungku catu ‘Saya tidak bingung.’
· Yo ja sabe. ‘Saya belum tahu.’
The sounds of a pidgin or creole are likely to be fewer and less
complicated than those of related languages
— Tok Pisin has only five basic vowels, unlike the dozen or so found in
• Pidgins have very little morphophonemic variation, that is, the type of
variation found in the final sounds in Cats and boxes
• In pidgins and creoles, there is almost a complete lack of inflection in
nouns, pronouns, verbs,
• Noun – are not marked for number and gender
Pronoun – will not be distinguished for case, so there will be
I - Me, he - him.
- In Tok Pisin me is either I or me
- Yumi ( I and you)
- em ( he, she, it )
- ol ( they or them)
- wanpela man ( one man)
Go – went
good – better
Sentences are likely to be uncomplicated in
clausal structures. It’s quiet different standart
language. This usually includes a continuous
marker of some sort, cf. de in English based
creoles, ape in French-based creoles, and ka in
a de go wok ‘I’m going to work’ Krio
i pa tro difisil ‘its not to difficult’ Louisiana
e ka nda ‘He’s going’ St. Thomas
The vocabulary is quite similar to the standard
language with which it is associated, although
there may be considerable morphological and
• Reduplication is often used to indicate, among
other things, habituality, and so on.
dry– drydry (unpalatable)
san (sun) – sansan (sand)
talk – talktalk (chatter)
• Pidgins and creoles often draw their vocabulary
from more than one language.
Etymology & Terminology
The origin of the word pidgin is uncertain. Pidgin first
appeared in print in 1850. The most widely accepted
etymology is from the Chinese pronunciation of the
English word business.
The word pidgin, formerly also spelled pigion,
originally used to refer to Chinese pidgin English,
Pidgin may also be used as the specific name for
local pidgins or creole, For example, the name of
the creole language Tok Pisin derives from the
English words talk pidgin.
Why did pidgins arise ?
Because the people among whom they are
found lack the ability to learn the standard
languages with which the pidgins are
Who did use pidgins ?
Pidgins are far less frequently used between
Europeans and non- Europeans than among
Theories of origin
1. The baby-talk theory
2. Independent parallel development theory
3. Nautical jargon theory
4. Relexification theory
5. Universalist theory
The baby-talk theory
There were many similarities with the speech of
children such as the following features:
1. High percentage of content words and low
number of function words
2. Little morphological marking
3. Word classes more flexible (free conversion)
Independent parallel development
This view maintains that the obvious
similarities between the world’s pidgins and
creoles arose on independent but parallel
Nautical jargon theory
As early as 1938 the American linguist John
Reinecke noted the possible influence of
nautical jargon on pidgins.
It is obvious that on many of the original
journey of discovery to the developing world
many nationalities were represented among
the crews of the ships.
the grammatical structure of pidgins would not
have been effected by the switch in vocabulary
Lingua franca was used to communicate
among the Crusaders and traders in the
This is the most recent view on the origin of
pidgins and has elements in common with the
other theories. However, the distinguishing
mark of this theory is that it sees the
similarities as due to universal tendencies
among humans to create languages of a
1. Polygenesis theory
Pidgins and creoles have a variety of origin; any
similarities among them arise from the shared
circumstances of their origins.
1. Monogenetic theory
The similarities can be accounted, contact language
provided the development across atlantic.
1. Relexification theory
Attempt to offer such an explanation, a lingua franca
called Sabir used n the Mediterranean n the Middle
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