ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Middle English creole hypothesis

Okay little buddy, so you know how we speak English now? Well, a long time ago, people talked differently, and that's what Middle English was. Now imagine that lots of different people from different places started talking to each other and they mixed words and grammar from different languages, making a new kind of language, like a special recipe with different ingredients. That's what a Creole language is.

Now, some really smart people have a theory that Middle English might have become a Creole language, called the Middle English Creole Hypothesis. They think that when people from different backgrounds came together, like the Normans and the Anglo-Saxons in England, they mixed their languages together to make a new kind of language.

But, not everyone agrees with this theory, so they're still studying and trying to figure out if it's true or not. It's like when you're figuring out a new puzzle, you have to test out different pieces to see if they fit together perfectly or not. That's what linguists are doing with the Middle English Creole Hypothesis.