Pidgin Refers to a System of Communication Between Speakers of Two Or More Languages Who

Black English developed when speakers of various West African languages were forced to abandon their native tongues and use English.Slaves from different tribes could not communicate with one another--in fact, masters deliberately tried to separate slaves who could speak the same language.Since the Africans had to communicate with one another, as well as with the whites, a kind of compromise language evolved on the basis of English and a mixture of the original West African languages.Such a makeshift, compromise language, used as a second language by adults, is known as a pidgin.When a pidgin becomes the native language of the next generation, it becomes a creole--a full-fledged language. (Vajda at

Pidgin refers to a system of communication between speakers of two or more languages who come into extended contact with one another. These are simplified languages; they’re sort of a makeshift way of people getting by together. Often these can develop in places where there is trading going on over an extended period of time, or for example during the colonial era when slaves or indentured servants from many different communities were brought into contact with each other. In these contexts people do the best they can to get their point across, but don’t develop the more sophisticated components of language (i.e. grammar, syntax), so we say that a pidgin isn’t a fully-fledged language.

Pid-gin English (pijn ingglish) n. Any of several pidgins based on English and now spoken mostly on the Pacific islands and in West Africa.[Alteration of pigeon English, from Pidgin English pigeon, business, perhaps from the Chinese pronunciation of English BUSINESS.]

pidg-in (pijn) A simplified form of speech that is usually a mixture of two or more languages, has a rudimentary grammar and vocabulary, is used for communication between groups speaking different languages, and is not spoken as a first or native language.[From PIDGIN ENGLISH.]

A creole is a fully-fledged language. Unlike pidgins, creoles are learned as first languages by children, and are every bit as complex and developed as any other human language. People who study creoles sometimes refer to “substrates” and “superstrates” – superstrates are the languages that supply most of the material, especially vocabulary, to a creole, while substrates are the other languages that are blended in. For example, Haitian Creole has French as its superstrate and several African languages as its substrates. If you speak French, you might pick up many words in this language, but the two languages are distinct in many important ways. (Louisiana Creole is also French-based.)

cre-o-lized language (kre-lizd langgwij) n. A language derived from a pidgin but more complex in grammar and vocabulary than the ancestral pidgin because it has become the native tongue of a community.

Cre-ole (kreol) n. 1. A person of European descent born in the West Indies or Spanish America. 2. A person descended from or culturally related to the original French settlers of the southern United States, especially Louisiana. The French dialect spoken by these people. 3. A person descended from or culturally related to the Spanish and Portuguese settlers of the Gulf States. 4. Often creole. A person of mixed Black and European ancestry who speaks a creolized language, especially one based on French or Spanish. 5. A Black slave born in the Americas as opposed to one brought from Africa. 6. creole. A creolized language. 7. Haitian Creole.adj. 1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of the Creoles. 2. creole. Cooked with a spicy sauce containing tomatoes, onions, and peppers: shrimp creole; creole cuisine.

The term patois is harder to define, and isn’t so much a technical term for any particular category as it is sort of a catch-all adjective to describe nonstandard languages or dialects. In some instances it can come across as kind of an insult; if you don’t speak the prestige dialect of your country or region, or if you speak a sort of “broken English”, someone might say you speak a patois. But, again, the term isn’t strictly defined, and Jamaicans sometimes refer to their own language as Jamaican patois…when it’s actually a creole.

pat-ois (patwa, pa-twa) n.pl. pat-ois (patwaz, pa-twa). 1. A regional dialect, especially one without a literary tradition. 2. A creole. Nonstandard speech. 3. The special jargon of a group; cant. See Synonyms at dialect.[1]

Many scholars think that creoles are languages that develop naturally among children raised by pidgin-speaking adults. Pidgins suffice for these adults in their adult lives, and work okay for second language contexts, but first-language learners have a natural tendency towards structure and comprehensiveness, so it is believed that these children take the raw material from the simplified language and create a full, natural language.(