Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages - Volume 41, Issue 1, 2026

Abstract

This article examines naming practices in creole languages and in scholarly discourse, addressing names in and for creole languages. It asks what constitutes a ‘creole name’, how the input languages affect and shape creole onomastics, and when creole serves as a glossonym and when as a class noun for a group of languages. Drawing on examples from diverse creoles, the overview shows that while many names originate from superstrate sources, they often undergo phonological and semantic changes. The discussion of glossonyms highlights how language names operate beyond identification, serving as instruments for categorization and identity construction reflecting both sociohistorical and present conditions. Naming emerges as a constitutive act that shapes linguistic conceptualization. Recognizing this performative dimension is essential for understanding processes of language making and for interrogating assumptions embedded in creole studies.

Abstract

This article discusses past and current names for contact languages, and their origins. Pidgins and creoles are new languages, and naming them may indicate a perceived continuation from preexisting languages or a break away from the antecedent languages, the lexifiers. Names for individual languages of pidgins and creoles are diverse. The languages may bear the name of the lexifier (e.g. French), a label referring to what today is a type of language (e.g. creole), they may be named after the function of the language (e.g. trade), a colonial vision of the language (e.g. “broken”), a frequent expression (e.g. “Fanakalo” ‘say it like this’), a population, a location, etc. Generic names for pidgins and creoles, as used in academic circles, often started off as names for individual languages. Terms spread, both from languages they were initially applied to, to other languages, and they may spread from being used in one language to another language.

Abstract

This paper addresses the question of metalinguistic terminology from a cross-linguistic and cross-conceptual perspective. In the first part of the paper, the current crisis in terminology is analysed, with a focus on unthinking the dominant keywords and concepts of global Anglophone linguistics such as “language”, “creole”, “dialect”, and “variety”. Theorizing the problems of Anglocentrism and Eurocolonial dominance on metalinguistic practices, the paper turns to the contact zone as an area of conceptual innovation and terminological legitimacy. With a point of departure in three case studies from the South Pacific contact zone, the paper integrates insights from South Pacific keywords and local metalinguistic terms. It advocates for the adoption of a new multipolar metalinguistics and underscores the importance of incorporating emic perspectives into linguistic theorizing.

Abstract

The Cape Verde Islands — Upper Guinea contact zone became the first location where Pt. crioulo and its loan translations Sp. criollo, Fr. créole and En. creole were used to designate pidgin or creole varieties. Approaching this issue from the perspective of language ideologies, we differentiate between the perspective of local communities and the perception of European outsiders, and hence between the use of autoglossonyms, i.e., names given by speakers, and the use of alloglossonyms, i.e., names given by outsiders. The paper illustrates how labels for local languages were (mis-)used within the outsiders’ othering strategy, becoming subject to ideological stances.

Abstract

This article examines the polysemic nature of the glossonym ‘Chavacano’ at the level of discourse, beyond the documented structural properties of its referent, i.e. the Philippine Chavacano Creoles. Arguing that language names function as statements with epistemic value, the study explores the evolving meanings produced through the labelling of Asia’s only Spanish-based creole. By comparing colonial-era documentation with contemporary emic and etic writings, we observe how current uses of the creole language name interact with its original derogatory connotations through affirmation, contestation, or negotiation. Applying a Foucauldian archaeological approach to language naming broadens the analytic scope of Creolistics, shifting the focus from purely structural concerns to the discursive power embedded in language names. By analysing the glossonym ‘Chavacano’, we gain insight into the complex meaning-making processes that are couched in creole language naming, where the reproduction of colonial pejorative statements intersects with the reclamation of ethnolinguistic pride.

This article reviews French Creoles: A Comprehensive and Comparative Grammar978-1-138-24482-5