Kele

Kele is the product of an idea I had while teaching a DeCal at Berkeley in which the students used a word list to create an impromptu pidgin over the course of the semester. The word list had no grammar; the students had to supply it themselves. While this was going on, I always wished that I could get in there and help create. But, I was the one running the experiment; I couldn't contaminate it. So, I came up with the idea for Kele. I created a basic word list (see below) from which I was going to create the creole, and then I, well, created it. The design principles were: (1) Not to create any new word forms; (2) to create a grammar that reflected a real creole; and (3) to have fun with it. And that I did. So, below you'll find the original word list I used, and what I did with it. Enjoy!