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Challenge: pidgin, creole and mixed languages

July 23, 2018 at 2:51 pm, No comments


There was a magical kingdom very far away, called Glottaland. All languages originate from Glottaland. All languages were born in a very small but magical house where three magician creators were creating the languages. They worked from orders. One day they got three similar orders from a client. They were asked to create a pidgin, a creole and a mixed language. The ingredients were put in small jars, but unfortunately there were not labeled as to which languages each ingredient was for. In addition, the ingredient manager magician took a day off. So, the other two magicians had to manage the situation. They started reading the ingredients and tried to find out which jars belong to which languages.

These words were written on the first jar:

Two languages; fluent speakers of both languages; persistent code-switching elements; grammatical materials, for example: nouns, numerals, definite/indefinite articles, possessive pronouns, some adverbs and adjectives from the dominant language; lexicon of the other language.

Here are the ingredients of the second jar:

A natural language; native speakers of the language; innate linguistic capacities; fully developed vocabulary but essential vocabulary are taken from the parent languages; semantic transparency; more complex grammar rules with new features; fixed phonology, morphology and syntax.

And the third jar:

Two languages; regular contact between two languages; no fluent speakers of the other language; a need for communication; simplified grammar; core vocabulary; onomatopoeia; monophthongization; uncomplicated clausal structure.

Which ingredients are for which languages? Write them in order in the comments!


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