Linguistic Varieties & Status
This type of language generally has not been standardized, lacks official status, and is usually the first language learned by people in multilingual communities
What is a Vernacular?
This language supplies most of the vocabulary of a pidgin and is typically the language with the highest prestige.
What is the Lexifier (or Superstrate)?
This is a language used specifically for communication between people whose first languages differ, often developing naturally in multilingual contexts.
What is a Lingua Franca?
This is an example of a pidgin that died out when its restricted function of communicating between American troops and Vietnamese disappeared.
What is Vietnam Pidgin English?
This is the dialect that provides a means of communication across areas of diversity and is defined as the English used by educated people with relatively high social status
What is a Standard (language or dialect)?
This linguistic form has a limited structure and uses only a minimum of explicit grammatical information, developing initially as a lingua franca but never being the only language in an individual's repertoire.
What is a Pidgin?
This term describes the influence of indigenous or local languages on a pidgin or creole's structure, such as Oceanic languages influencing Tok Pisin.
What is the Substrate (Influence)?
In this country, the creole Tok Pisin shows simplification of grammar, such as having a single verb form regardless of the subject's person or number.
What is Papua New Guinea?
These varieties, such as Fiji English or Singapore English, have developed in post-colonial societies where English serves as a valuable language of wider communication.
What are New Englishes (or World Englishes)?
This is the fully-fledged language that develops from a pidgin and is acquired as a first language for some individuals.
What is a Creole?
This process occurs when a pidgin expands in structure and vocabulary to serve the full range of functions required of a first language.
What is Creolisation?
This is the variety of English in Singapore that is often used in the home, moving toward being a native-speaker variety, despite British English being the tacit target in schools.
What is Singapore English?
This term refers to the variety on the Post-Creole Continuum that is closest to the standard language, as indicated by the fact that the prefix means 'high'.
What is the Acrolect?
This is the comprehensive range of varieties that may exist between the standard language and the creole, which may include the basilect, mesolect, and acrolect.
What is the Post-Creole Continuum?
This variety, exemplified by mi tell am in Guyanese Creole, is closest to the original creole language on the continuum.
What is the Basilect?
This African community shows three distinct language uses for one man (Kalala): Shi (vernacular), standard Zairean Swahili (education), and Kingwana (lingua franca).
What is Bukavu (in the DRC-Zaire)?