Mixed language
A
mixed language is a
language that arises when two languages are in contact and there is a high degree of
bilingualism among speakers. (Occasionally, more than two languages may be involved.) A mixed language differs from a
pidgin in that its speakers are fluent, even native, speakers of the languages involved in the mixture, whereas a pidgin develops when groups of people with no knowledge of each other's languages come into contact and have need of a basic communication system, e.g. for trade, but do not have enough contact to learn each other's language or to develop a
lingua franca. A mixed language differs from a
creole in that a mixed language has not evolved from a pidgin, while a creole has. Also, while creoles tend to have drastically reduced inflections, mixed languages sometimes retain the inflectional complexities of both parent languages. It differs from
code-switching in that it is set in its grammar and vocabulary, rather than the choice being left to the mood of the speaker. Speakers of mixed languages often do not know the input languages, something that precludes the possibility of linguistic improvisation.
A mixed language may be said to evolve from persistent code-switching and indeed language names like "
Spanglish" are often given to persistent code-switiching long before it is clear that a genuine mixed language has evolved. Other apparent mixed languages, such as
Franglais and
Yinglish, are really nothing more than names given to varieties of a language (like
French and
English respectively) characterized by large numbers of
loanwords from another language (like
English and
Yiddish respectively). Usually a mixed language appears to be a marker of a new cultural/ethnic group (metis, immigrant or similar).
The best examples of genuine mixed languages are probably:
*
Michif, a mixture of
French and
Cree, where the nouns and adjectives tend to be French (including agreement), and the
polysynthetic verbs are entirely Cree. There are two simultaneous gender systems, French masculine/feminine as well as Cree animate/inanimate, and the Cree obviative (fourth
person)
*
Mednyj Aleut, a mixture of
Russian and
Aleut, which retains Aleut verbs but has replaced most of the inflectional endings with their Russian equivalents.
*
Cappadocian Greek, which has mostly Greek root words, but used with many
Turkish grammatical endings, Turkish
vowel harmony, and no gender.
*
Mbugu or Ma'a: an inherited
Cushitic vocabulary with a borrowed
Bantu inflectional system
Other possible examples include:
*
Wutunhua (a mixture of
Chinese and
Tibetan)
*
Yeniche (a mixture of
German,
Yiddish, and
Romani)
*
Jopará, mixture of
Guaraní and
Spanish, Spanish verbs are changed to match Guaraní
phonology and conjugated following Guaraní patterns
*
Riverense portuñol (Portuguese/Spanish)In addition to
Spanglish and
Yinglish mentioned above, there are many varieties of English that are distinguished from "standard" varieties by being in contact with other languages. These may not be genuine mixed languages, but rather cases of persistent code-switching or heavy loanword use. They include:
*
Englog (Filipino/English)
*
Europanto (English/French/German)
*
Finglish (Finnish/English)
*
Fingilish (Farsi/English)
*
Franglais (French English)
*
Germish (German/English)
*
Hinglish (Hindi/English)
*
Madras bashai (Tamil/English)
*
Manglish (Malay/English)
*
Nuyorican (
Spanglish as spoken by
Puerto Ricans in
New York City)
*
Poglish (Polish/English)
*
Runglish (Russian/English)
*
Swenglish (Swedish/English)
*
Taglish (Filipino/English)
*
Thailish (Thai/English)
*
Vinish (Vietnamese/English)
*
Yanito (
Spanglish as spoken in
Gibraltar)
*
Yeshivish (
Yinglish as spoken by
Yeshiva students)
Similar names are given to "broken" English found in foreign countries, for example:
*
Chinglish (Chinese/English)
*
Dunglish (Dutch English)
*
Engrish (Japanese English)
*
Konglish (Korean/English)
These are simply
non-native uses of English and cannot be considered mixed languages.
*
Code-switching*
Language contact*
Chiac language* Mous, Maarten. 2003.
The making of a mixed language: The case of Ma'a/Mbugu. Creole language library (No. 26). Amsterdam: J. Benjamins Pub. Co.
