Pacific Pidgins

The Melanesian pidgins may have originated off their home islands, in the 19th century when the islanders were abducted for indentured labour. Hence they were developed by Melanesians for use between each other, not by the colonists on whose language they are based. English provides the basis of most of the vocabulary, but the grammar has many Melanesian features

The most well-known pidgin used in America is the now creolized Hawaiian Pidgin where locals mixed the traditional dialect of Hawaiian with English, Japanese, Portuguese, and other languages of immigrants of Hawaii and Pacific traders.

Pidgins become creole languages when a generation whose parents speak pidgin to each other teach it to their children as their first language. Often creoles can then replace the existing mix of languages to become the native language of the current community. However, pidgins do not always become creoles—they can die out or become obsolete.

Creole language

A creole language, or just creole, is a well-defined and stable language that originated from a non-trivial combination of two or more languages, typically with many distinctive features that are not inherited from either parent. All creole languages evolved from pidgins, usually those that have become the native language of some community.

History of the concept Colonial origins

The term creole comes from Portuguese crioulo, via Spanish criollo and French créole. The term was coined in the 16th century, during the great expansion in European maritime power and trade and the establishment of European colonies in Americas, in Africa, and along the coast of South and Southeast Asia up to the Philippines, China and Japan, and in Oceania.

The term "Creole" was originally applied to people born in the colonies, to distinguish them from the upper-class European-born immigrants. Originally, therefore, "Creole language" meant the speech of those Creole peoples.