Classifying Pidgin and creole language systems -- UP: <[LINK] -Class>

Pidgin and creole language systems are hard to define.  To get a grasp on the issues, it makes sense to first consider the stages that such languages arrive at and sometimes pass through by asking what pidgins and creoles are.  Often stages that a language passes through are conflated with the process that carries them to, and perhaps past, that particular stage, such as pidginization or creolization. The best approaches to defining pidgin and creole language systems take both state and process into account.  For example, Jeff Siegel's developmental taxonomy carefully distinguishes, while not disaggregating, state from process. As his series of models demonstrates, neither state nor process can be considered alone if a classification of pidgin and creole language systems is to carry effective explanatory power. As good as it is, Siegel's model is still subject to some, albeit fewer, exceptions. A more flexible definition that does not rely on "necessary and sufficient" conditions is argued for here, as it maakes it possible to synthesize many of the various approaches to pidgin and creoles languages and cultures that have been proposed..

Summary: Different ways of defining the terms

• Stage or state (Creole, Pidgin).................................. <[LINK]>
• Process (creolization, pidginization) ........................... <[LINK]>
• Developmental paradigm (synthesis of states and processes) ...... <[LINK]>
• A more flexible way of defining the terms ....................... <[LINK]>