EXPLORING A KUWAITI ENGLISH PIDGIN WITHIN KUWAITI HOUSEHOLDS: A SOCIOLINGUISTIC INVESTIGATION

When speakers belonging to different language communities come together and attempt to communicate efficiently, they usually need to find a contact language that could lead to the birth of a pidgin language variety. The present study is a sociolinguistic investigation of an English-based pidgin that emerges through work-oriented interaction, necessitating Filipino domestic workers and their Kuwaiti employers to use it to communicate. The study thoroughly investigates the similarities between the variety under investigation and other pidgins using phonological, morphological, syntactic, and lexical diagnostic features. Findings of the study present the English variety used by Kuwaiti households in their communication with Filipino workers as a pidginized English in Kuwait featuring four reported linguistic aspects in pidgin languages: morphological simplifications, syntactic simplifications, lexical simplifications, and functional limitations. The study concludes that such pidginized English is strategically utilized to simplify and ensure efficient language communication between Filipino domestic workers and their Kuwaiti employers.