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Pidginization, Creolization and the Elaboration of Learner Systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2008

Albert Valdman  and
John S. Phillips
Albert Valdman
Affiliation:
Indiana University
John S. Phillips
Affiliation:
Indiana University
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Extract

In their search for more solid theoretical underpinnings applied linguists are turning increasingly toward the burgeoning field of pidgin and Creole linguistics (Schumann 1975). This attraction stems from recent changes in orientation in these two domains of linguistics that have led to a shared interest in the psychological processes underlying language acquisition. Abandoning their primary concern for the nature of the input data provided to the second language learner, applied linguistics are paying more attention to the nature of the psychological structures and processes that determine what type of data the learner will “take in” and that guide him in the transformation of the intake into his version of the target language. The focus on the learner's language processing mechanisms is evidenced by the favor enjoyed currently by the branch of applied linguistics labelled -- quite inappropriately -- error analysis. At the same time, creolists are looking at pidgin and creole languages from a different standpoint. They are less concerned with the problems that these languages pose to genetic classifications of languages or with the historical filiation among extant pidgins and Creoles. They believe that because of the very fact that these languages, particularly pidgins, assume limited communicative functions in speech communities they are more likely to provide insights on the nature of language acquisition and on the relationships between linguistic structure and the communicative setting.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , Fall 1978 , pp. 21 - 40
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

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