Article published In:
Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages: Online-First Articles

Selectional factors in pronominal system formation

Evidence from Fiji’s two pidgins

ORCID logo | University at Buffalo , USA

Creolists have long debated the role of sociocultural ecologies and superstrate/substrate typology in the formation of new contact languages. The present study broadens this discussion by examining the pronominal systems of two pidgins that formed in Fiji – Pidgin Hindustani and Pidgin Fijian. Both pidgins have smaller pronoun paradigms than do their lexifiers, but differ in the kind and degree of restructuring they exhibit. This study conducts a systematic typological comparison of the languages present in the feature pools of both pidgins, in search of selectional factors that shaped their systems of person reference. I argue that within this grammatical subdomain, Pidgin Hindustani and Pidgin Fijian each lend support to different models of pidgin formation, suggesting that pidginization is not a single deterministic process with a prototypical typological outcome.

Keywords: pidgins, pronouns, contact languages, contact-induced change, Fiji
Article outline
  • 1.Background: Pidgins and theories of contact language formation
  • 2.Feature pools for Fiji’s pidgins
    • 2.1A linguistic history of Fiji
    • 2.2General assumptions in modelling feature pools
    • 2.3Feature pools
  • 3.Four Fijian language varieties and their pronoun systems
    • 3.1Fijian personal pronouns
    • 3.2Pidgin Fijian personal pronouns
    • 3.3Fiji Hindi personal pronouns
    • 3.4Pidgin Hindustani personal pronouns
  • 4.Discussion
    • 4.1Comparing the pronominal systems of Pidgin Fijian and Pidgin Hindustani
    • 4.2A typology of theories of contact language formation
    • 4.3Proposing six models
    • 4.4Evaluating the six models
    • 4.5Two proposals on selectional factors
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 28 June 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.23003.hay
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