The Ethnography of Variation (EV) is a particularly good and relevant selection (with one exception, below) of seven articles and one book review written by Hugo Schuchardt, “the undisputed father of pidgin-creole studies”, between 1882 and 1914.
 

1. A small dose of brute force permitted, the papers may be classified into two rough theoretical categories, which reflect to a certain extent the very structure of EV: 1) structures of (pidgins and) creoles; 2) origins of creoles. In the first category fall for sure, the three papers of EV, viz., On the Creole of Reunion (1882, EV: 1-6); ‘Contribution to Melansian English Studies’ (1889, EV: 7-14); and ‘Further Remarks on Réunionnais’ (1885,  EV: 15-17).The fourth selection, ‘On Melanesian English’ (1883, EV: 18-25) fits in as a convenient transition from the first category of papers to the second. Not only does it complement the second selection with a relevant formal linguistic discussion of Beach-la-mar or Sandalwood English, it also provides useful information about the circumstances of its beginning. This kind of information constitutes the common denominator of the second category of papers.