Pidgin and Creole Languages

Pidgin and Creole Languages Pidgin and Creole Languages Pidgin and Creole Languages By Maeve Maddox The word pidgin refers to a language used as a means of communication between people who do not share a common language. The word pidgin derives from a mispronunciation of the English word business. The term â€Å"Pidgin English† was first applied to the commercial lingua franca used in southern China and Melanesia, but now pidgin is a generic term that refers to any simplified language that has derived from two or more parent languages. When a pidgin develops into a more complex language and becomes the first language of a community, it is called a creole. Note: The word creole has racial applications, which are not addressed in this article. Creoles typically arise as the result of contact between the language of a dominant group and that of a subordinate group, as happened as the result of European trade and colonization. The earliest reference to a creole language is to a Portuguese-based creole spoken in Senegal. The vocabulary of a typical creole is supplied for the most part by the dominant language, while the grammar tends to be taken from the subordinate language. A pidgin is nobody’s natural language; a creole develops as a new generation grows up speaking the pidgin as its main language. The grammar of a creole usually remains simpler than that of the parent languages, but the new language begins to develop larger vocabularies to provide for a wider range of situations. Because of its distinctive use of verb tenses and other grammatical features, Black English is considered by many to be an English creole having British and American varieties. Haitian is a French creole. Unlike pidgins, creoles are complete natural languages that differ from standard dialects of the dominant parent language in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. Some more examples of creole languages: French-based Louisiana Creole Mauritian Creole English-based Gullah (US Sea Islands) Jamaican Creole Guyanese Creole Hawaiian Creole More than one parent language Saramacca (SurinameEnglish and Portuguese) Sranan (SurinameEnglish and Dutch) Papiamentu (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaà §aoPortuguese and Spanish) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:15 Terms for Those Who Tell the FutureConnotations of 35 Words for Funny PeopleSentence Adverbs

Find out What the Characteristics of a Sea Squirt Are

Find out What the Characteristics of a Sea Squirt Are A sea squirt may look more like a vegetable, but it is an animal. Sea squirts are more scientifically known as tunicates or ascidians, as they belong to the Class Ascidiacea. Surprisingly, these animals are in the same phylum we are - Phylum Chordata, which is the same phyla that include humans,  whales, sharks, pinnipeds, and fish.   There are over 2,000 species  of sea squirts, and they are found throughout the world. Some species are solitary, while some form large colonies. Characteristics of Sea Squirts Sea squirts have a tunic, or test, which attaches to a substrate   Sea squirts have two siphons - an inhalant siphon, which they use to pull water into their body, and an exhalant siphon, which they use to expel water and wastes. When disturbed, a sea squirt may eject water from its siphon, which is how this creature got its name. If you remove a sea squirt from the water, you may get a wet surprise! Sea squirts  eat by taking in water through their inhalant (incurrent) siphon. Cilia create a current that passes the water through the pharynx, where a layer of mucus traps plankton and other small particles. These are then passed into the stomach, where they are digested. The water carries waste out through the intestines and is expelled via the exhalant (excurrent) siphon.   Sea Squirt Classification Kingdom:  AnimaliaPhylum:  ChordataSubphylum:  UrochordataClass:  Ascidiacea Because sea squirts are in the phylum Chordata, they are related to vertebrates such as humans, whales, and fish. All chordates have a notochord or primitive backbone at some stage. In sea squirts, the notochord is present in the animals larval stage. Where Do Sea Squirts Live? Sea squirts attach to things like piers, docks, boat hulls, rocks, and shells, many in subtidal locations. They may attach singly or in colonies.   Sea Squirt Reproduction In addition to eating, the inhalant siphon is used for reproduction. Most sea squirts are hermaphroditic, and while they produce both eggs and sperm, the eggs stay inside the tunicates body and are fertilized by sperm that enters the body through the inhalant siphon. The resulting larvae look like a tadpole. This tadpole-like creature soon settles to the ocean bottom or to a hard substrate, where it attaches to life and secretes a leathery, cellulose-based substance that makes up the tunic that encases it. The resulting animal is barrel-shaped.   Sea Squirts may also reproduce asexually by budding, in which a new animal splits off or grows out of the original animal. This is how colonies of sea squirts form. References and Further Information Coulombe, D.A. 1984.  The Seaside Naturalist. Simon Schuster. 246pp.Meinkoth, N.A. 1981. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Seashore Creatures. Alfred A. Knopf: New York.Newberry, T. and R. Grossberg. 2007. Tunicates.  In  Denny, M.W., and S.D. Gaines, eds.  Encyclopedia of Tidepools and Rocky Shores. University of California Press. 705pp.