But if you wrote a sentence down in Naijá and handed to someone who spoke Jamaican Patois, there’s a good chance they’d be able to understand it. West African pidgins and creoles are surprisingly similar to Caribbean creoles, like Jamaican Patois. Nigerian Pidgin is used to make communication possible between different tribes and ethnic groups. Most Nigerians speak one of 500+ regional languages, and schools tend to teach in English. However, only 5 million of these are native speakers.
Nigerian Pidgin ( also known as Naijá ) has 50-75 million speakers and growing. The most widely-spoken creole language in terms of native speakers is Haitian Creole.Īlso called Kreyòl ayisyen or simply Creole, this French-based creole is the official language of Haiti. Pidgins and creoles are found around the world.įor example, English-based creoles are spoken throughout Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Islands. At that point, it’s considered a creole.Īnd just to make things confusing, since creole languages evolve from pidgins, many languages with “pidgin” in the name have actually evolved into creoles, like Tok Pisin, one of the official languages of New Guinea. Children may begin to grow up speaking it from birth. If a pidgin language becomes widely used, its vocabulary may grow and additional grammar rules may develop. Nobody speaks a pidgin language as a first language. Pidgin languages are generally simplified and flexible, with a limited vocabulary. What’s the difference between pidgin languages and creoles? This can happen because of trade, or as a result of slavery or colonization. Pidgin languages are makeshift languages that arise whenever multi lingual groups have to communicate on a regular basis without a common language. Isn’t Pidgin English just English with a heavy accent? With that in mind, here are 8 things you need to understand about pidgins and creoles. But just as in Game of Thrones, it would be foolish to write off pidgins and creoles because of their parentage. Most them have historically been treated as the bastard children of European languages – denied recognition and looked down upon. In fact, pidgin languages and creole languages can be found all over the world. But wait, what’s Pidgin? Is that even a language? The BBC just announced that it will now be broadcasting in Pidgin for the West and Central African markets.
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