pidgins

Pidgin languages are simplified contact languages that develop when speakers of different languages need to communicate for practical purposes, such as trade, work, or administration. A pidgin draws its vocabulary from one or more dominant languages (superstrates), while its grammar is streamlined and often analytic, with little inflection and a reduced set of function words. Pidgins typically have no native speakers; they are learned as second languages by adults and children alike when communication needs demand it.

Most pidgins arise in multilingual contact zones, especially under trading or colonial conditions, where diverse communities come into prolonged contact. They form and spread quickly, serving as a common lingua franca among people with different first languages. If a pidgin becomes established as a community's first language, children learn it as their primary tongue and its structure grows more complex, at which point it is often called a creole.

Linguistic features vary, but common traits include a simplified phonology and morphology, a reduced or fixed word order, and the use of particles or auxiliary words to indicate tense, aspect, number, or mood. Vocabulary tends to be pragmatic and concrete, with new words added from contact languages as needed.

Notable pidgins and creoles include Nigerian Pidgin in West Africa; Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea (originating as a pidgin and now widely spoken as a creole with native speakers); Bislama in Vanuatu; and Pidgin varieties across the Pacific and the Atlantic. The status of a language as pidgin or creole can be fluid, with some languages shifting over time along the pidgin–creole continuum.