I mean fair enough, but it made me laugh.

  • hallettj@leminal.space
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    4 hours ago

    A pidgin language is a simplified language that appears when people need to communicate with each other, but they don’t have a common language. But if the situation lasts long enough for children to grow up learning the mixture of languages as their native language then it quickly evolves into a creole. The difference is that a creole is not a simplified language, and it has regular grammar. While growing up children always “reanalyze” their language to regularize grammar and fill in gaps in expressiveness. This is a main driver in shifts in all languages. The effect is especially profound when starting from an irregular, simplified language.

    Because of reanalysis pidgins tend to either be temporary, or to give way to creoles. I don’t know of a pidgin that exists in the US right now. There are creoles - there are some details here