Author Description

The Atlas presents full colour maps of the distribution among the pidgins and creoles of 130 structural linguistic features drawn from their phonology, syntax, morphology, and lexicons. In addition there are some maps with relevant sociolinguistic features. The languages include pidgins, creoles, and other contact languages based on English, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, and French and languages from Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Americas. Each map is accompanied by a detailed description and discussion of the feature. The project is the successor to the successful World Atlas of Language Structures and draws on the same linguistic, cartographic, and computing knowledge and skills of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. The Atlas is published alongside a three-volume Survey of Pidgins and Creoles which describes the histories and linguistic characteristics of 76 languages. The books have been designed, edited, and written by the world's leading experts in the field and represent the most systematic and comprehensive guide ever published to the world's pidgins, creoles and mixed languages. Individually and together the books are a unique resource of outstanding value for linguists of all persuasions throughout the world.