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Glite Dictionary
🗣️ Mixing languages 🌎 Mixing cultures
creolization

creolization

7.9
A mixing of words and rules from different languages that makes a new language
  • noun
  • /ˌkriːoʊlaɪˈzeɪʃən/
  • Specialized
translation icon : creolización
  • Linguists study the process of creolization to understand how new languages emerge from the blending of different linguistic elements.

Examples

  • The creolization of various languages in the Caribbean led to the establishment of several distinct creole languages.

  • What such a line of argument leads to is a redefinition of the concept of "creolization."

    Academic text (1996)

  • During creolization, features from both languages are combined, resulting in a stable form that is used by the community.

How Complete

stabilization
  • US
28 3.9
creolization
  • Specialized
7.9
pidginization
  • Specialized
9.1

Surface Forms

creolization singular
creolizations plural

Morphology

creolization = creolize (semi-transparent) = creole + ize + ation

The word is a regular nominalization of 'creolize', but the specialized sociolinguistic sense is not fully predictable for a learner from the base alone.

Etymology

The word creolization comes from creole, which comes from Portuguese crioulo and the verb criar meaning 'to raise' and is related to create. So creolization is the 'making' of a new language when different languages mix.