Population factors, multilingualism and the emergence of grammar
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Enoch O. Aboh
Abstract
John Singler’s work on substrate influence in the emergence of Atlantic creoles has shown that population factors (i.e., the ethnic distribution of the African founder population) as well as typological (dis)similarities between the languages in contact are crucial for understanding how new language varieties develop. In light of this view, this chapter discusses population factors on the Slave Coast in the 17th and early 18th centuries in order to determine the ethnic distribution of the Africans deported to Suriname and Haiti. Building on newly established socio-historical facts, this chapter further investigates the development of adpositions in Sranan: a case study of the emergence of grammar in multi-ethnic context.
Abstract
John Singler’s work on substrate influence in the emergence of Atlantic creoles has shown that population factors (i.e., the ethnic distribution of the African founder population) as well as typological (dis)similarities between the languages in contact are crucial for understanding how new language varieties develop. In light of this view, this chapter discusses population factors on the Slave Coast in the 17th and early 18th centuries in order to determine the ethnic distribution of the Africans deported to Suriname and Haiti. Building on newly established socio-historical facts, this chapter further investigates the development of adpositions in Sranan: a case study of the emergence of grammar in multi-ethnic context.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1. The sociohistorical matrix of language contact
- Population factors, multilingualism and the emergence of grammar 23
- The African diaspora in Latin America 49
- The sociohistorical matrix of creolization and the role children played in this process 79
- Creole as necessity? Creole as choice? 101
- Bahamian Creole English 123
- Linguistic commonality in English of the African diaspora 145
- Historical separations 177
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Part 2. Sources of grammar and processes of language contact
- Some observations on the sources of AAVE structure 203
- Unity in diversity 225
- Krio as the Western Maroon Creole language of Jamaica, and the /na/ isogloss 251
- Number marking in Jamaican Patwa 275
- Variationist creolistics, with a phonological focus 305
- Pidginization versus second language acquisition 323
- Crosslinguistic effects in adjectivization strategies in Suriname, Ghana and Togo 343
- Author index 363
- Language index 365
- Subject index 367
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1. The sociohistorical matrix of language contact
- Population factors, multilingualism and the emergence of grammar 23
- The African diaspora in Latin America 49
- The sociohistorical matrix of creolization and the role children played in this process 79
- Creole as necessity? Creole as choice? 101
- Bahamian Creole English 123
- Linguistic commonality in English of the African diaspora 145
- Historical separations 177
-
Part 2. Sources of grammar and processes of language contact
- Some observations on the sources of AAVE structure 203
- Unity in diversity 225
- Krio as the Western Maroon Creole language of Jamaica, and the /na/ isogloss 251
- Number marking in Jamaican Patwa 275
- Variationist creolistics, with a phonological focus 305
- Pidginization versus second language acquisition 323
- Crosslinguistic effects in adjectivization strategies in Suriname, Ghana and Togo 343
- Author index 363
- Language index 365
- Subject index 367
