Since pidgin languages are popular in many areas of the world, it’s important to understand the characteristics of pidgins, and how some are using the languages to localize communications with these cultures. In reality, pidgins are a historically rich testament to human ingenuity, a natural evolution of languages, and the need for communication.

This has caused some to categorize pidgin languages as incorrect or a sub-standard form of major languages. Highlighting the exceptional nature of the linguistic ecology of Saint-Louis, it considers the reasons why a French-based creole evolved in Saint-Louis as opposed to an indigenous language-based creole or the adoption of one of the Kanak languages spoken by the neophytes as a vehicular language.To some, pidgin languages can initially sound like a broken variation of more commonly spoken languages, and assumptions are made that pidgin speakers are using slang. It closely examines the role played by the mission-educated Saint- Louis girls in the formation of this language of intra-village communication, exploring the teaching conditions at Saint-Louis at both the boys’ and girls’ schools and comparing these with other mission schools in New Caledonia.

This article briefly introduces the demographic history of Saint-Louis and the arrival of Melanesian neophytes from different ethno-linguistic areas of the colony before discussing the influence of education on the development of Tayo, the Pacific’s only French-lexified creole language. Abstract: Between 18, a creole language, Tayo, emerged as the community language of Saint-Louis a former Marist mission in southern New Caledonia.

Pidgins creoles and mixed languages