A Basque Nautical Pidgin

Abstract

The paper deals with a Basque Nautical Pidgin from which a number of sentences have been preserved in a seventeenth century Basque-Icelandic word list. These sentences are interesting for several reasons. First, Basque may throw an interesting light on the pidginization process because it is not an Indo-European language and has several unusual features. Second, although the sentences come from a Basque word list compiled by an Icelander, there are also some words from other languages, of which English is the most prominent. It is suggested that the knowledge of an English Nautical Pidgin played a role in the formation of this pidgin. Third, in the current debate on the origin of fu and similar markers as complementizers, many claims have been made. In this Basque Pidgin, twelve of the fifteen sentences contain the lexical item for in diverse functions. The use of for in the pidgin is compared with similar lexical items in four other pidgins. It is argued that there was some transmission of the use of for in these pidgins to the for in creoles.