part 2 question 5

5-What makes a pidgin different from a creole? Could this explain some authors’ belief that
OE actually began in 500 AD rather than in 449 AD with the Germanic invasion
(everybody)

Oxford, p.4:

Pidgin: If the contact is between a dominant language and more than on other language, and the speakers of these languages have no language in common, then an interim contact language might develop. This language would have a reduced linguistic system in the 1st instance; it would be subject to variation and would not be equal to all the communicative tasks that a native speaker is likely to need to perform (from say ordering goods to saying prayers). In this case, we would call the variety a pidgin. The pidgin might persist over time and stabilize in terms of its forms and functions.

Creole: If it is passed on to subsequent generations, which need to use it as their main language or only language, it will expand to fulfill those linguistic functions it was not equal to in its earlier form. In this case, we would speak of a Creole developing. More often than not, such languages end up shifting in the direction of the dominant language as social conditions improve and access to power and the mainstream society increases.

Oxford p.83 :
Pidgins and creoles arise as simplified languages of communication between speakers of 2 mutually unintelligible languages.

5) What makes a pidgin different from a creole? Could this explain some authors’ belief that OE actually began in 500 AD rather than in 449 AD with the Germanic invasion?

Language can change by contact with other languages. This can be because of migration (moving to more fertile lands, displaced because of war, poverty or disease) or because of an invasion. (as in the case of the earlier periods of English when the first Germanic tribes, then the Vikings and the Norman invaded Britain.)

Fennell, Barbara A. (2001) A History of English: A Sociolinguistic Approach. Blackwell p.4

Pidgin: “a pidgin happens when there is contact between a dominant language and more than one other language, which are not in common. Then, a interim contact language might develop. This language would have a reduced linguistic system in the first instance; it would be subject to variation and would not be equal to all the communicative tasks that a native speaker is likely to need to perform. In that case, we would call this variety a pidgin. It might persist over time.”
Not a complete language in term of linguistics features.

Fennell, Barbara A. (2001) A History of English: A Sociolinguistic Approach. Blackwell p.4

Pidgin: A simplified, mixed language used among people who have no common language. (def.)

Millward, C.M. (1996) A biography of the English Language. ___ p.418

Pidgin: it is nobody’s native language; it is a contact between groups whose native languages are mutually unintelligible. (the word pidgin comes from the pidgin pronunciation of business)
Usually the dominant language is the major component of the pidgin, but the less dominant language contributes to the pidgin too, mostly in term of vocabulary.
Normally, a pidgin form of a regular language is simplified and reduced in term of phonology, morphology, grammar and vocabulary.
Pidgin has no structure at all, even if the word order is very important.

Millward, C.M. (1996) A biography of the English Language. ___ p.404

Creole: “a creole happens when a pidgin is passed to other generations who use it has their main or only language.”
Complete language in term of linguistic features.

Fennell, Barbara A. (2001) A History of English: A Sociolinguistic Approach. Blackwell p.4

Creole : a pidgin language that has acquired native speakers.

Millward, C.M. (1996) A biography of the English Language. ___ p. 410

Creole: when a pidgin becomes the native language of a group of speakers.
This happens when pidgin speakers who native languages are unintelligible intermarry.
Their children grow up having the pidgin language as their first language. When a linguistic situation stabilized, it grows in vocabulary and grammar and eventually became a complete language of its own.

Millward, C.M. (1996) A biography of the English Language. ___ p. 404

Begin of Old English 500:
Technically, the Old English period began in 449 with the invasion of Kent by Hengest and Horsa, but some authors placed its start at 500 because it must have taken one or two generation to settle and developed its distinctive feature. According to what we have seen before, the pidgin and creole could explain why some authors think that. In fact, after the Germanic invasion in 449, more than one language was spoken in the British Isles. The influence of one on another could possibly have created a pidgin at first and after one or two generations of people speaking it, created creole which is actually the Old English.

Fennell, Barbara A. (2001) A History of English: A Sociolinguistic Approach. Blackwell p.

* important thing: we cannot call a creole a language, in broad terms, a pidgin is created, after some years when the people starts to speak it as a mother tongue a creole is born (which is much more complexe in term of grammar and vocabulary), but it will become a language only when it will have a recognized status. (when this language will be used for education or politics)

From a talk with Douglas.