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Creole Languages

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The Theories of the Origin of Creole Languages

In 1995, Jacques Arends, Pieter Muysken and Norval Smith edited and published the book Pidgin and Creoles. And Introduction, which includes several essays on the history and origin of pidgin and creole languages. Muysken and Smith’s essay “The study of pidgin and creole languages”, as well as Arends’ text “The socio-historical background of Creoles” deal with the historical background of creoles, the distribution of these languages and the definition of creoles. Furthermore, Arends, Muysken and Norval discuss how the creole languages that exist originated. The three types of creoles and their history, the European input and the demographic are illustrated in their essays and summarise the theories …show more content…

“The development of the quantitative proportion between the black and white parts of the population” (Arends 22) is one of the factors that presumably account to the understanding of creolisation. Baker, who Arends argues “was the first to draw attention to the importance of demographic factors for creolisation” (22), proposed the terms Event 1 and Event 2, which refer to a time when either the amount of black and white people in a community were equal, or when the number of African locals or creoles were equal to the white population (Arends 22). Event 3, which suggests that the immigration of substrate speakers stops, is not relevant, according to Arends. Moreover, Event 1 suggests that there are enough L2 speakers for second language learners to have access to that language before the beginning of colonisation, whereas after Event 1, slaves are imported and the white population in turn does not grow. This leads to L2 learners having difficulties learning the language from native speakers. Arends points out, that Event 2 is a point in time when the black population has “nativized to such an extent that creolization of language may occur” (22), which does not mean that creolisation necessarily takes place, just that all conditions are fulfilled …show more content…

Thus, children born through these relationships, mulattoes, speak the pidgin, that was spoken by the different people, and make it a creole. Furthermore, different theories are discussed on how creoles are simplified languages and have a more mixed grammar than other languages. Arends also mentions the Event theory, where the demographic factors for creolisation are of importance. Overall it is to say that Arends, Muysken and Smith highlighted the plantation and slavery aspect that plays a huge role in creole languages and the creation of creoles through the children of interracial

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