Editing Pidgin (section)

== Common traits ==
{{Unreferenced section|date=September 2020}}
Pidgins are usually less morphologically complex but more syntactically rigid than other languages, and usually have fewer morphosyntactic irregularities than other languages.

Characteristics shared by most pidgins:
* Typologically most closely resemble [[isolating languages]]
* Uncomplicated [[clause|clausal]] structure (e.g., no [[subordinate clause|embedded]] clauses, etc.)
* Reduction or elimination of [[syllable coda]]s
* Reduction of consonant clusters or breaking them with [[epenthesis]]
* Elimination of [[Aspiration (linguistics)|aspiration]] or [[sound changes]]
* [[Monophthongization]] is common, employment of as few basic vowels as possible, such as {{IPA|[a, e, i, o, u]}}
* Lack of [[Morphophonology|morphophonemic variation]]
* Lack of [[tone (linguistics)|tones]], such as those found in [[Niger-Congo languages|Niger-Congo]], [[Austroasiatic languages|Austroasiatic]] and [[Sino-Tibetan languages|Sino-Tibetan]] language families and in various families of the [[indigenous languages of the Americas]]
* Lack of [[grammatical tense]]; use of separate words to indicate tense, usually preceding the [[verb]]
* Lack of [[Conjugation (grammar)|conjugation]], [[declension]] or [[Agreement (linguistics)|agreement]]
* Lack of [[grammatical gender]] or [[grammatical number|number]], commonly supplanted by [[reduplication]] to represent [[plurals]] and [[superlatives]], and other parts of speech that represent the concept being increased and clear indication of the gender of animated objects.
* Lack of clear [[parts of speech]] or word categorization; common use and derivation of new vocabulary through [[Conversion (word formation)|conversion]], e.g. [[nominalization]], [[verbification]], adjectivization etc.