Chances for the emergence of a pidgin appear to be optimal when the rate of spread of the source language is asymmetrical, with a high incidence of incipient bilinguism among one group that is subordinate in status to another group that places little value on knowledge of the subordinate group’s language. Under such conditions, which Bloomfield [Bloomfield, L. (1933). Language. New York: Henry Holt] discusses under the heading of 'intimate borrowing', speakers of the ‘lower’ language have no choice but to make them understood as best they can in whatever degree of proficiency.
- Ferguson-DeBose (1977), Pag. 119