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Written by
Salikoko Sangol Mufwene
The Frank J. McLoraine Distinguished Service Professor of Linguistics and the College, University of Chicago. Author of Language Evolution: Contact, Competition, and Change, Créoles, écologie...
Salikoko Sangol Mufwene
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pidgin, originally, a language that typically developed out of sporadic and limited contacts between Europeans and non-Europeans in locations other than Europe from the 16th through the early 19th century and often in association with activities such as trade, plantation agriculture, and mining. Typical pidgins function as lingua francas, or means for intergroup communication, but not as vernaculars, which are usually defined as language varieties used for ordinary interactions that occur outside a business context. Pidgins have no native speakers, as the populations that use them during occasional trade contacts maintain their own vernaculars for intragroup communication. The communicative functions ...(100 of 933 words)

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