Pidgin Origins Reconsidered

This article critically reexamines Naro's (1978) account of the origin of Pidgin Portuguese in the 15th century. His claim that the pidgin originated in Portugal and was created by the Portuguese themselves is shown to rest on a number of serious errors, oversights, and misinterpretations with respect both to the historical background and to the Portuguese literary texts of the period which depict the speech of Africans and other foreigners as well as the speech of Portuguese to them. Naro's explanation of the process of pidginization, the so-called "factorization principle," is also reexamined and an attempt is made to look at all factors which might have played a role.