contactlanguage

Contact language is a term in linguistics used to describe a language variety that emerges or changes primarily through contact between speakers of different languages. It functions as a means of communication in multilingual settings and can refer to languages formed from such contact as well as languages that are heavily influenced by it. The umbrella term covers pidgins, creoles, and mixed or hybrid languages that arise in contact situations.

Pidgins and creoles are two well-known outcomes of language contact. A pidgin is a simplified language that develops to facilitate communication between groups with no common language; it typically has a small lexicon and limited morphology and is not learned as a native language. When a pidgin becomes stable and begins to be learned as a first language by a community, it may develop into a creole—a more fully developed natural language with a larger vocabulary and more complex grammar. Creoles often exhibit substantial word‑formation, tense and aspect systems, and sentence structure that reflect both the original languages involved in the contact.

Other contact languages include mixed or bilingual languages that blend elements from two or more languages in systematic ways, such as Michif or Media Lengua. These can arise in close, enduring contact situations and may not fit the pidgin/creole dichotomy but still reflect substantial structural influence from contributing languages.

Sociolinguistic contexts for contact languages include colonization, trade, migration, and plantation economies. They have played a central role in linguistic theory and documentation, illustrating how languages adapt to social and communicative needs.