40 Jamaican Creole Proverbs from the Perspective of Contact Linguistics for each pidgin or creole stems from different contact situations and created its own structure. DeCamp (1971: 15) presents the following definition of a pidgin: A pidgin is a contact vernacular, normally not the native language of its speakers. It is used in trading or in any situation requiring communication between persons who do not speak each other’s native languages. It is characterized by a limited vocabulary, an elimination of many grammatical devices such as number and gender, and a drastic reduction of redundant features. (DeCamp 1971a: 15) This reduction is called simplification; however, some less redundant pidgins might be more complex than the language they merged with. 3.1. ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD PIDGIN There have been many names given to pidgin languages by previous generations, reflecting their opinions of pidgins and their relation to them, e.g. broken English, bastard Portuguese, nigger French, kombuistaaltje (‘cookhouse lingo’), isikula (‘coolie language’). As far as the origins of the word are concerned, Robert Chaudenson (2001: 16) claims that “[t]he etymology of this [pidgin] term, in contrast with that of creole, remains mysterious and controversial.” Mühlhäusler (1986: 1), in his book Pidgin and Creole Linguistics, offers some of the most common views concerning the etymology of the term “pidgin.” These are the following: The definition given by the OED of a Chinese corruption of the English word ‘business.’ A Chinese corruption of the Portuguese word ocupção: ‘business.’ Hebrew pidjom: ‘exchange, trade, redemption.’ Yago (a South American Indian language spoken in an area colonized by Britain) pidian: ‘people.’ South Seas pronunciation of English ‘beach’ (beachee), from the location where the language was typically used. Mufwene (2008: 555) states that the closest etymon of the word pidgin is the Cantonese phrase bei chin, which literally means ‘to pay’ or ‘to give money.’ Hall (1966: 7), on the other hand, refers to the altered term pidgin, Pidian, of the local indigenous people which was probably taken from an indigenous
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