Pidgins can be derived from any language - Haitian Creole, for example, developed from a Pidgin French - and not all varieties of Pidgin English are equal. Occasionally a pidgin becomes established as the native language of the less dominant group.

Thus pidgins have developed in many places where Europeans subjugated other peoples or where slavery was instituted. Such languages are created when neither group is willing, or in a position, to learn the language of the other. Most people are familiar with the term 'Pidgin English,' but linguists use 'pidgin' more generally to refer to any language of limited vocabulary and simplified grammar that incorporates features of the native languages of at least two groups. An alternative theory suggests that 'pidgin' is actually from 'Pidian,' the name of South American Indians with whom the English came in contact in the 17th century and was first used as the name for the rudimentary common language that emerged between the two groups. The language referred to in this case is the common language of communication between Chinese- and English-speaking traders in China's open ports in the 19th century. The term 'pidgin' itself is generally thought to be derived from the way the Chinese pronunciation of 'business' in 'business English' sounded to the Englishman's ear. Question: In a column written by someone who should know better, I saw a reference to 'pigeon English.' Can you tell us the background of the term 'Pidgin English'? And something about the language itself?Īnswer: Your columnist's choice of the spelling 'pigeon' is not as egregious as it might seem, since 'pigeon,' as well as 'pidgeon' and 'pidjin,' were all early spellings of the word that finally settled into the version 'pidgin' in this century.

Pidgin language example