A pidgin is a language which has no native speakers and was developed as a mean of communication between people who do not have a common language. A pidgin is no one’s native language. Pidgins seem particularly likely to arise when two groups with different language are communicating in a place where there is also a third dominant language. For example, on Caribbean slave plantations in the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries, West African people were forcefully separated from others who used the same language to reduce the risk of them plotting to escape or rebel. To be able to communicate with each other, as well as their overseers, these slaves have created a pidgin based on the language of the plantation bosses, mixed with their own languages. Pidgins developed as language of trade between the traders who used a colonial language such as Portuguese, or Spanish, or English – and the Indians, Chinese, African or American Indians that they were trading with on sea-coasts. A lot of the meanings which have been suggested for the word pidgin reflect its uses as means of communication between traders. It may derive from the word ‘businesses’ as pronounced in the pidgin English which developed in China, or perhaps from Hebrew pidjom meaning ‘trade or exchange’ or perhaps from the combination of two Chinese characters pei and tsi n meaning ‘paying money.’ In the very beginning, pidgins develop with a narrow range of functions. The pidgin is an addition to a person’s linguistics repertoire used for a specific purpose, such as trades or perhaps administration. Pidgins are also used almost exclusively for referential rather than affective functions. For example, they are typically used for specific functions like buying and selling grain, or animal hides, rather than to signal social distinctions or express politeness. The structure of a pidgin is generally no more complicated than it needs to be to express these functions because nobody uses a pidgin as a means of group identifications, or to express social distance. Therefore, there is no pressure to maintain referentially redundant features of a language or complicated pronunciation. Pidgins languages are created from the combined efforts of people who speak different languages. All languages involve may contribute to the sounds, the vocabulary, and the grammatical features, but to different extents, and some additional features may emerge which are unique to the new variety. The language which supplies the most of the vocabulary is known as the lexifier (or known as superstrate), while the language which influence the grammatical structure are called the substrate.
The article The Strange Persistence of First Languages by Julie Sedivy was an intriguing and eye-opening piece of writing to read. The concepts she brought to life through her explicit writing revealed many things I had never heard of before. The further I read, the more I wanted to know and the deeper my interest became. As a monolingual, this article was insightful, captivating and ultimately provided me with a new perspective on language.
Therefore, Hawaii Pidgin English is more than a language, but an identification and social marker for all local people.
“I also knew that, while I had many things to say, I did not have the words to say them. Painfully aware of my limitations, I watched helplessly as language became an obstacle. It became clear that it would be necessary to invent a new language. But how was one to rehabilitate and transform words betrayed and perverted by the enemy? Hunger-thirst-fear-transport-selection-fire-chimney: these words all have intrinsic meaning, but in those times, they meant something else” (p.
Language is a mean of communication in any given society. It represents the ability to evolve and progress through the ongoing process of living with other human beings. Many can perceive this instrument as tool of liberation and transformation but others as an instrument to enslave, manipulate or oppress a group of people. Whichever the case one need to acknowledge that it is necessary and not a waste of time the many different discussions about this ongoing topic regardless of the time period or social context any country might have. In Puerto Rico, there has been an ongoing dilemma about languages; Dr. Alicia Pousada examines on her essay what many might define “the language madness on the island”. Throughout this paper some of her most interesting ideas will be shared and discussed so that this already extended topic might find another page to take place.
Sign language is a method of communication for people who have hearing or speech impairments. Sign language is a language that is made up of gestures using the hands and some facial expressions which classifies it as a visual language. There are two different versions of sign language for english, American Sign Language (ASL) and Pidgin Signed English (PSE). Both are widely used across the world, but the signer who uses the versions and the syntax will be different, while the signs and the actual use will be the same.
After the lecture by Harryette Mullen, I had different interpretations of the poems “Bilingual Instructions,” “Elliptical,” and “Why You and I.” Mullen’s poetry truly caught my eye more than any other poets poetry in this short amount of time because she is rule breaking and different. Before the lecture, I read these two poems multiple times, which allowed me to come up with my own thoughts and ideas of what the poems meant but when Mullen spoke out about the true meaning of her poems I found that my thoughts and ideas were not exactly correct.
Ordinarily, Native American tribes were separated by ethno-linguistic groups. The immense linguistic diversity was due to the isolation and disperses of the tribes all throughout the United States. The surviving languages were not numerous and they had the widest geographic distribution that was all over the country. A few became combined with roots of other tribe languages, which evolved new languages and dialects causing a great deal of miscellany and variety. Unfortunately, a large quantity of these languages became extinct with the European contact the...
The Contemporary Issues in Native American Culture provides a lot of varied topics and interests. In this paper, the main issue will be the topic of tribal language preservation. How tribes are able to raise money to enhance language efforts, how tribes are working to preserve the language, and how tribes are using language to maintain cultural awareness and identity will be discussed.
Languages are continually changing and developing, and these changes occur in many different ways and for a variety of reasons. Language change is detectable to some extent in all languages, and ‘similar paths of change’ can be recognised in numerous unrelated languages (Bybee, 2015, p. 139). Since users of language all over the world have ‘the same mental processes’ and ‘use communication for the same or very similar ends’ (Bybee, 2015, p. 1), similar changes occur on the same linguistic aspects, and in many cases these changes produce similar results in multiple languages. However, language change is limited by the function it performs. Languages must be learnt to such an extent which allows communication between the generation above and below one’s own (McMahon, 1994, p. 5). Hence language change is a gradual, lethargic process, as only small changes in
Next, we shall evaluate the key features of language which are; communicative, arbitrary, structured, generative, and dynamic. Communicative, language can allow one to interact with another. According to Willingham (2007), the bond found with the elements in language and what they mean is arbitrary. The way language is set up shows how the symbols are not arbitrary. The set up language shows precisely how intricate it can be. Generative, one is able to build countless number of meanings from words. Dynamic, language never stays the same, therefore it can be known as sporadic. According to Willingham (2007), changes are being made all the time as new words get added and as the ways of grammar change. These elements can be quite critical when it comes to language.
‘Mother Tongue’ a story by Amy Tan tries to take us through the different events one should change the manner in which he or she uses language with the listeners. As the speaker, one should use the appropriate language for the right audience so as to avoid circumstances in which language barrier can occur. The language which Tan uses with her mother is quite different from the one she uses with her listeners when engaging in public or official talks. It is quite evident that when Tan was confronting the stock broker who wanted to con her mother she changes her diction which matched a sophisticated language from the one her mother used. Language becomes hectic when one is trying to fit in a language he or she can hardly talk (Diyanni 633-639).
—. Language: Readings in Language and Culture. 6th ed. New York: St. Martin's, 1998. Print.
It is important to differentiate code-switching from the practices of borrowing and using loanwords. Such loaned or borrowed words are used by many speakers throughout a language, whereas code-switching happens in specific times and places. Code-switching can also be conscious or unconscious. While a word from a different language might be added for clarity, fluently bilingual speakers may switch between languages with little intention or purpose. Persons in multilingual communities tend to code-switch frequently and with little or no conscious effort. A code-switching speaker may simply speak the first word that comes to mind, regardless of which language provides the source. Code-switching is n...
Hepworth, M. D. (2012), Tutorial Notes, '69214339 TMA01', Unpublished Work. Leith, D. and Seargeant, P. (2012), 'A Colonial Language', in Seargeant, P. and Swann, J. ed. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a History, Diversity, Change (U214, English in the World), Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp. 113-117. 101.
Language has oral, written and non-verbal aspects, that can be seen and heard, and which are socially and culturally influenced. Although languages have common features, these social and cultural influences also create great diversity among languages and varieties, often leading to a perception that some varieties have greater value or status. In addition, social and cultural context play a large role in meaning-making. Children develop language as a result of social and cultural interactions, based on a growing awareness of the functions of language, and how language can be used. This understanding of the different types and uses of language increases as children experience language outside of the home. As their understanding of these different roles of language grows, children gain the ability to select and use the appropriate language for a particular context or