Re: Creole vs. Pidgin

Both creoles and pidgins are made of a mix of grammar and vocabulary
from more than one language.

A pidgin is not anybody's first language -- it's always used as a
second language, and usually has extremely simple grammar.

A creole is what happens when a pidgin starts to be spoken as a first
language; it usually has a more complex grammar than a pidgin (though
it still may be fairly simple).

That's as best I understand it anyway; I'm an amateur too...

Ed Heil ------------------------------- edheil@postmark.net
"Facts are meaningless! You can use facts to prove anything
   that's even _remotely_ true!"           -- Homer Simpson

Daniel Seriff wrote:

> Can someone give me a definition of creoles and pidgins, and the
> differences between the two? For some reason I just can't grasp the concept
> from a short encyclopedia entry.
>
> Dan Seriff
>