G'day PoppaGator,
When you wrote (on 19 Aug 04) that
"The word "Creole" comes from the Spanish "crillo," which originally referred to the first generation born in the "New World," offspring of settlers from Europe (Spain or France). It has come to mean different things to different people"
I was reminded of one of the different meanings that linguists apply to it.

A paper in Scientific American (from about 20 years ago) described the influences (local Polynesian, Philippino, Japanese and English, as I recall) that created the "creole" language used in Hawa'i and that was my first exposure to the term in that context. I vaguely recall the author made a distinction between creole languages and pidgin but can't now bring the details to mind.

Because of the high number of language groups in the Top End of the Northern Territory in Oz, many local Aboriginal people speak about 10 different languages and English is pretty well last on their list. To facilitate communication between disparate groups, a "creole" (as linguists would call it) has developed among Aboriginal people there and one of its features is ruthlessly simplified spelling when written. Which is why, when the name of this creole language is written, it is spelled Kriol.

And technically, I'm a Balanda (pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable). Enough thread drift from me, on a really interesting thread.

Cheers, Rowan