Glossary

Not all speakers of a single variety speak the variety the same way. Some speakers may use features that differ strongly from the standard variety, while others select more standard features. The form of a variety which employs the ‘deepest’ features is called the basilect (Holm 1988: 54). Thus, a basilect is the form of a variety that is furthest away from the standard. When speakers use linguistic features very close to the standard, and refrain from using a number of features associated with a non-standard variety, they are said to be speaking an acrolect (Holm 1988: 54). Thus, an acrolect is the form of a variety that is closest to the standard. Between these two extremes of the spectrum, intermediate forms are possible. These are called mesolects (Holm 1988: 54). Often, there are multiple mesolects in a single variety, some closer to the basilect, some closer to the acrolect, but always intermediate to both.

Creoles

Creole languages are often nativized forms of pidgins. This means that in some cases the children (in communities in which a pidgin has been used as a lingua franca and spread into the home domain) start to acquire this pidgin as native speakers. The pidgin therefore is developed to meet the linguistic needs of native speakers: the pidgin develops into a full-fledged language – a creole. Pidgins lack many structural properties. Creoles, on the other hand, can fulfil all communicative needs of a speaker and thus can serve as a native language. However, it is unclear whether all creoles developed from pidgins directly (Winford 2003: 307). In general, as most creoles developed in colonies (such as the slave colonies in Africa and the USA), sociohistorical backgrounds are believed to be a decisive factor in the emergence of a creole language. For example, the relative distribution of demographic backgrounds (i.e., Europeans, Africans, and other groups) is considered an important factor in the formation of creole languages (Winford 2003: 310). Today, many English-based creoles can be found around the world – Jamaican Patois in Jamaica, or Tok Pisin in New Guinea, to name just a few.

When speakers who do not share the same native language use a third language (distinct from both native languages) to communicate, this language is called a lingua franca (Seidlhofer 2005: 339). Thus, a lingua franca can be seen as a bridge language that bridges the gap between speakers of different languages. In theory, any language can be a lingua franca. In practice, however, usually a socially dominant language is used as the lingua franca. In colonial settings, which required speakers of different languages to communicate for reasons of trade, and where workers from often had no common language, pidgins (link: pidgins) and creoles (link: creoles) fulfilled this role. Today, English is one of the most important lingua franca, as it is used for communication by native speakers of different languages all across the world (Seidlhofer 2005: 339).

Pidgins

Pidgins are reduced and simplified languages in terms of structure and vocabulary, only encompassing features that enable basic communication pertaining to the contact situation speakers find themselves in frequently (Winford 2003: 268 ff.). Historically, many English-based pidgins developed in colonial settings. They arise when speakers of different languages meet, for example for trading purposes, but have no common language. In these cases, pidgin languages develop to fulfil basic communication needs. Often, one language, usually the prestigious language, supplies the lexicon whereas structural patterns are adapted from all languages involved as well as due to universal tendencies (Winford 2003: 270 ff.). Because they are only used in a limited number of situations, they lack a number of features: Their lexicon is limited to objects and ideas pertaining to the situation in which they developed (e.g. trade or maritime vocabulary). They are also considered structurally simple – one example for this simplicity is the lack of inflectional morphemes (Winford 2003: 275 ff.). Pidgins, however, are not easy to learn. Since the vocabulary is limited, one word can have a lot of different meanings.

Rhoticity is the pronunciation of postvocalic /r/. Speakers of rhotic varieties pronounce the /r/ regardless of its position in the word. This is the case for speakers of General American, and it also used to be true for British English speakers around the time of Shakespeare (Minkova 2014: 126). The word letter, for example, would be pronounced /ˈlet̬.ɚ¹https://www.neuphil.uni-wuerzburg.de/anglistik//. Non-rhotic speakers, on the other hand, do not realize the /r/ in pre-consonantal position or before a pause. The word letter then is pronounced /ˈlet.ə/. This is true for many speakers of British English, but also for South African, Australian and New Zealand English speakers (among others). Consequently, there are no centering diphthongs in rhotic languages, so /ɪə/, /ɛə/, /ʊə/ and /ɜː/ are replaced with /ɪr/, /ɛr/ and /ʊr/. As a consequence, sawed and soared are homophones in non-rhotic languages whereas in rhotic languages the pronunciation differs.

Variety refers to different realizations of a particular language depending on certain factors such as social position, educational background, or region. Additionally, the usage of language can vary in different situations or in different mediums of language: thus, people will tend to use a different register in language when communicating with friends as opposed to the register used at a business meeting. Furthermore, their written and spoken language will differ (Chafe & Tannen 1987: 385). As this already suggests, the speakers of a particular language are able to shift between varieties, and, moreover, this shift can be performed intentionally or unintentionally (Kortmann 1999: 219).