Jamaican Patwa: Defining Simplicity in Creole Languages

Introduction to Pidgin and Creole Terminology

In sociolinguistics there is often a need to define phases of language development that are neither discrete nor simple. Yet it is also clear that these same terms — the best example being pidgin and creole — were adopted from popular culture and are therefore loaded to some degree in usage. The degree to which these words are "loaded" depends a great deal on context. Sociolinguistics defines pidgin as a language of lingua franca, derived from the mixing of two languages by a group of people who have a need to communicate on some level but speak two varied languages. This work will explore the terminology and accepted internal and external definitions, including pidgin, creole, and linguistic simplicity, looking finally at a modern example of a creole language — Jamaican Patwa — in the context of the definition of simplicity.

The Development and Neutralization of Pidgin

The development of a pidgin language is often the result of massive immigration and/or trade, where one population has cause and need to speak and understand foreigners. There is also a sense that pidgin, in common usage, is a loaded term, supported in part by the fact that it usually has a very simple structure and, in a postcolonial sense, suggests that those who speak it are also "simple." To take the weight out of the term, one must more closely examine the development of such a language and eliminate the colonial ideation of superiority that dominates popular culture with regard to common usage of "pidgin" language.

One manner in which this phenomenon of "loading" pidgin with the ideation of simplicity relates to the fact that pidgin often develops in a situation where both language speakers must reduce their own language to its most basic level so the other might understand — making the language similar to the manner in which an adult would speak to a child, leaving out many modifiers and causing the language to lose a great deal of nuance. The issue is entirely mutual for both speakers, as each will find the other particularly odd-sounding when speaking the other's language in this manner. Yet the issue of "superiority" enters when one speaker believes that his or her language is superior to the other's, and treats the other's inability to speak it as proof of inferiority. This, to a large degree, is simply a product of social and political dominance and even xenophobia on the part of the usually dominant political player (Olade Aboh & Smith, 2009, p. 321).

Pidgins have often come into existence as a result of colonial conquest or situations where one culture must enter another's for economic reasons. Some have even used the analogy of pidgin resembling the way a foreigner would speak to a native speaker if he or she were not proficient in the native language (McWhorter, 2005, p. 168). Having said all of this, one must allow sociolinguistics to neutralize the term pidgin to simply mean a necessary form of communication that develops so that two individuals who speak different languages can communicate.

References

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Cooper, K. J. (2009). Parts of speech. Crisis, 116(3), 16.

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McWhorter, J. H. (2005). Defining creole. Oxford University Press.

Olade Aboh, E., & Smith, N. (2009). Complex processes in new languages. John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Siegel, J. (2008). The emergence of pidgin and creole languages. Oxford University Press.