Types of Dialects or Varieties
As mentioned previously, all languages are dialects, according to linguists. But in the Caribbean when we say dialect, patois etc. we are talking about languages that are not Standard English or Standard French; e.g. broken english or broken french. Now in the past when Africans or other people from other countries were trading with Europeans or any other foreign group, they had to find a quick way of communicating, so they used the language below called pidgin. Pidgin The term ‘pidgin’ (believed to have been derived from the Chinese pronunciation of the English word ‘business’) “refers to a system of communication that has grown up among people who do not share a common language but need to trade or conduct business. Pidgins are unstable, have a limited vocabulary and grammatical structure and narrow range of functions. A pidgin is not a native language, but a creative adaptation of natural languages with structures and rules of its own. Creole ...