Lexifier
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Through Vocabulary
Structure
Pidgin and creole language names are often written as the following: Location spoken + Stage of Development + Lexifier language. For example: Malaysian Creole Portuguese, with Portuguese being the lexifier and the superstrate language at the time of the creole development.
Often the autoglossonym, or the name the speakers give their contact language, is written Broken + Lexifier, e.g. Broken English. This becomes confusing when multiple contact languages have the same lexifier, as different languages could be called the same name by their speakers. Hence, the names are as stated above in the literature to reduce this confusion.
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Name
The word lexifier is derived from the modern Latin word lexicon, meaning a catalogue of the vocabulary or units in a given language.
Examples
- English is the lexifier of English-based creole languages, such as:
- Jamaican Patois
- Belizean Creole
- Miskito Coast Creole
- San Andres Creole English
- Singapore Colloquial English, a.k.a. "Singlish"
- French is the lexifier of French-based creole languages, such as:
- Antillean Creole
- French Guianese Creole
- Haitian Creole
- Louisiana Creole
- Mauritian Creole
- Réunion Creole
- Portuguese is the lexifier of Portuguese-based creole languages, such as:
- Cape Verdean Creole
- Korlai Creole Portuguese
- Malaysian Creole Portuguese
- Papiamento
- Guinea-Bissau Creole
- Spanish is the lexifier of Spanish-based creole languages, such as:
- Chavacano
- Palenquero
- Dutch is the lexifier of Dutch-based creole languages, such as:
- Negerhollands
- Berbice Dutch Creole
- Zulu is the lexifier of Zulu-based creole languages, such as:
- Fanagalo