A relatively stable form of speech developed as an auxiliary lan­guage, whose vocabulary and sphere of employment are narrowly limited and whose grammar, phonological structure and style are simpler than those of the language(s) from which it was evolved. Examples: Tok Pisin (Neo-Melanesian) based on English; Bazaar Malay in Malay­sia-Indonesia; Petit Maures­que (French-based, in North Africa); Fanagaló (mainly from Zulu, South Afri­ca). A pidgin which be­comes the mother tongue of a linguistic com­mu­ni­ty is said to be creoli­zed. See also creole.

a type of language that arises in situations of intense contact for specific purposes between groups of speakers of two languages, for example, as a consequence of trade or slavery. A pidgin usually has the vocabulary of one language and the grammatical structure of the other. A pidgin cannot be a native language for anyone because it has very limited expressive power. Pidgins are usually short-lived; they either outlast their usefulness and disappear or expand their communicative potential and become CREOLE languages.

a language based on a simplified grammar and lexicon taken from one or more fully developed languages.

A linguistically simplified, mixed and restricted language used in limited contact situations between peoples who have no common language.

A pidgin language is created by speakers of two different languages for communicating with each other. Pidgins share similar characteristics wherever they arise such as CV syllable structure. Examples are: Tok Pisin (Papua New Guinea), Cameroon Pidgin English, Ivory Coast Pidgin, etc. See also creole.

an artificial language used for trade between speakers of different languages

a contact language or lingua franca that arose naturally (not like e

a contact language used for communication between groups having different native languages

a contact vernacular, used to facilitate communication between speakers of two or more languages

a language lexically derived from other languages, but structurally simplified

a language that mixes elements of other languages with simple codes

a language with an extremely limited vocabulary and a simplified grammar that enables people with different native languages to communicate

a lexically, phonologically, and syntactically simplified form of English or French or Portuguese or other traders' language

a lingua franca which is not native to those who use it and it has a reduced grammar and vocabulary

a linguistic makeshift that enables two cultures to communicate for purposes of trade, etc

a minimal language subset used for communication between people who do not understand one another's language

an auxiliary language (a language used for communication by groups that have different native tongues) that develops when people speaking

a new language which develops in situations where speakers of different languages need to communicate but don't share a common language

a practical language used by two groups of people for a communication goal that immediate and practical

a reduced, simplified, often mixed language evolved for trading purposes by speakers who do not have a common language

a rudimentary language of few lexical items and less complex grammatical rules based on another language

a rudimentary language system that develops when people who have already acquired separate languages learn to communicate simple notions -- as when a colonizing community of English traders establishes a base in a far corner of the world

a simple language used between people who do not have a common language

a simplified language that develops when groups of adult speakers without a common language come into prolonged contact

a simplified language used for communication between people with different languages

a simplified, makeshift language that develops to fulfill the communication needs of people who have no language in common but who need to occasionally interact for commercial and other reasons

a sort of proto-language or crude formless makeshift language invented by adults who are native speakers of different languages in order to communicate between themselves

A language variety that develops between groups not speaking a common language; they typically combine basic elements of two different languages and lack many grammatical features found in fully-developed languages.

A contact medium liable to spring up wherever speakers of several different languages have to communicate without any language in common. In its early stages of development a pidgin is a form of protolanguage: that is to say, it lacks any kind of formal structure. Pidgin utterances consist of small groups of content words strung together in a purely ad hoc fashion. A pidgin, if it endures long enough, may stabilize, expand and, after several generations, approach the status of a full natural language. If a pidgin, regardless of its stage of development, is acquired by children, they convert it into a creole.

a mixed language that develops to ease communication between members of different cultures in contact with each other, usually in situations of trade of colonial domination.

American Sign Language signs which are used in English word order.

A language which develops when groups of people who speak different languages try to communicate with each other on a regular basis

A simplified form of speech, developed as a medium of trade, or through other extended but limited contact, between groups of speakers who have no other language in common. [See Matthews, P.H. (1997)

A form of reduced speech spoken by a second language speaker. Pidgin languages tend to exhibit pure lexical categories at the expense of functional categories.

A pidgin, or contact language, is the name given to any language created, usually spontaneously, out of a mixture of other languages as a means of communication between speakers of different tongues. Pidgins have simple grammars and few synonyms, serving as auxiliary contact languages. They are learned as second languages rather than natively.