viii, 530 p. : ill., map, diagrs., tables ; 24 cm.

Part I.
Preface /
Dell Hymes --
Introduction: the study of pidgin and creole languages /
David Decamp.

Part II. A Pidgin (and Two Creoles)
Introduction --
Tây B̂õi: notes on the pidgin French spoken in Vietnam /
John E. Reinecke --
The Katanga (Lubumbashi) Swahili creole /
Edgar Polome --
The language situation in Haiti /
Albert Valdman.

Part III. General Conceptions of Process Introduction -- Linguistic hybridization and the 'special case' of pidgins and creoles / Keith Whinnom -- Salient and substantive pidginization / William J. Samarin -- Absence of copula and the notion of simplicity: a study of normal speech, baby talk, foreig...

Part IV. Problems of Historical Reconstruction Introduction -- Tracing the pidgin element in Jamaican creole (with notes on the nature of pidgin vocabularies) / Frederick G. Cassidy -- Lexical origins and semantic structure in Philippine creole Spanish / Charles O. Frake -- The strange case of Mbugu...

Part V. Variation and Use: A Range of English-Linked Cases Introduction -- Varieties of creole in Suriname: church creole and pagan cult languages / Jan Voorhoeve -- Prestige in choice of language and linguistic form / Christian Eersel -- The art of reading creole poetry / Coexistent systems in lang...

Part VI. Disciplinary Perspectives Introduction -- Some social forces and some social functions of pidgin and creole languages / Allen D. Grimshaw -- The notion of 'system' in creole languages / William Labov -- Language history and creole studies / Henry M. Hoenigswald -- The socio-historical backg...

Part VII. Appendices; Index.