Part 1: The Baby Blacksmith.
It's funny that language, something so crucial to human survival, is all just make belief. Language can be created and destroyed, lost, and found; some languages don't even last more than a few decades. Language is a tool, and just like any other tool, it serves a purpose.
Human cognition is designed for language acquisition, we are a master blacksmith when it comes to language, foraging away in the flame to create new tools of all kinds when needed. However, some blacksmiths are better than others. Children are exceptional blacksmiths; their brain is designed to learn language. The fire in their blacksmith burns hot, making their metal so malleable that every inch of their blade is molded to perfection with-in a few years. Adults can do this too, but their fire will never burn at hot as it did when they were children. They can only sharpen their blade so fast; it'll take them decades to craft the perfect blade.
Children are such good blacksmiths that if you give them a broken blade, with chipped edges, rust all over, and unfinished guards, they will re-design it, suiting it for the harshest of battles.
A Pidgin Language is a broken blade. It is a language created by adults that speak different languages from each other. A Pidgin language is an entirely new language that follows no grammatical rules, yet it allows for communication.
Pidgin English in Nigeria, which developed as a result of trade and cultural exchange between the indigenous population and European colonizers and slave traders in the 19th century.
Tok Pisin, a pidgin language in Papua New Guinea, developed as a means of communication between the indigenous population and European colonizers and traders in the 19th century.
Chinese Pidgin English, which developed during the 19th century as a means of communication between Chinese merchants and British traders in Hong Kong and other port cities.
Pidgin languages develop out of necessity when communication is difficult. It requires active focus on both the listeners and speaker's behalf and you can barley call this a language. However, the first generation of children to grow up with a Pidgin language will standardize the language and give it grammatical rules. This is called Creole language and it is the re-designed blade that it is created naturally and almost unconsciously by the children.
Haitian Creole
Louisiana Creole
Sranan Tongo (Suriname)
Papiamento (Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire)
Gullah (USA)
Kreyol ayisyen (Haiti)
Guyanese Creole
São Tomense Creole (São Tomé and Principe)
Cape Verdean Creole
Ndyuka (Suriname)
The Creole languages above still exist to this day and are spoken by many people in their respective regions as either their first or second language. Some of them, such as Haitian Creole, have gained official recognition and are used in education, media, and government. Others, such as Gullah, are considered endangered and efforts are being made to preserve and revitalize them.
Overall, language is a powerful tool that reflects the unique nature of human communication and the adaptability of our cognition. Our ability to mold and shape words to fit our needs is a testament to human creativity. Language is a dynamic and ever-evolving entity that continues to shape and be shaped by our society and interactions, one baby blacksmith at a time.
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