U2O2 - Englishes in Contact

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Pidgin

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A contact language that is no one's first language. It evolves as a vehicle of communication between speakers of different linguistic backgrounds (e.g., between European and non-European populations). Typically, it has a reduced linguistic structure initially but may gain complexity in grammar and vocabulary if it remains in use across generations. A pidgin can evolve into a creole.

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Creole

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A language developed through contact between two or more languages (e.g., between European and non-European languages in colonies and former colonies). Creoles evolve from a pidgin to become a first (native) language of a speech community.

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Lingua franca

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A common language used for communication (and often commerce) between groups of people who speak different languages.

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Language maintenance and shift

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The processes by which the users of a language either resist encroaching language(s) to maintain a traditional or existing language or switch to the encroaching language.

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Language reclamation

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The process by which a language community attempts to revitalise a language that is in danger of being lost. It includes the politics of indigenous peoples' rights and is associated with reclaiming identity and culture from which a people have been dissociated. Language revitalisation or revival can take many forms, including attempts to relearn a heritage language from material recorded in another era when the language was spoken. Barry Blake is an example of a Victorian linguist researching this area.

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Prescriptivism

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The practice of promoting or enforcing specific rules and standards for language use.

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Descriptivism

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This focuses on language behaviour that can actually be observed, emphasising an objective account of the patterns and use of a language.

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Aboriginal Australian Englishes (AAE)

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A continuum ranging from language use very close to Standard Australian English to something closer to a creole. Features of AAEs can include elements of non-standard Englishes, features from first contact and colonial language, and features of any of the First Nations languages in Australia.

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Dialect

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A language variety that identifies the geographical or social background of a person, which is characterised by distinctive words and grammar (and may also be associated with distinctive features of pronunciation or accent).