Phonological Pidginization in the Spanish Spoken by Four Chinese Immigrants

Abstract

The present article stems from a research study aimed at analyzing the Spanish acquired naturally by four Chinese immigrants in Costa Rica, from the standpoint of Schumann’s Pidginization Hypothesis. In this paper, the degree of phonological pidginization in the informants’ Spanish is determined through the identification of deviant features and the establishment of percentages of segmental retention and loss.