CREOLE LANGUAGES. Bakker defines a creole language: “When two or more groups of people with different languages come into contact with each other, the resulting language is called a creole when people start speaking it as their mother tongue or a default language in the community.” Bakker says there are about 100 creole languages—-and by the definition of “creole”, these would have to be new languages.
Bakker explains that what creole languages do not have is grammar. He gives an example of how grammar can be avoided: “I will go and work on the plantation.” becomes “by-and-by me go work plantation.” There is no absolute need for a distinction between “I” and “me”. And “by-and-by” takes care of the future tense.
A girl once told me that she had lived in Paris for almost a year without knowing any French tenses—a word like “yesterday” or “tomorrow” would get the job done.