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Sri Lanka Malay

Creole or convert?
  • Ian Smith and Scott Paauw
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Structure and Variation in Language Contact
This chapter is in the book Structure and Variation in Language Contact

Abstract

Two sociolinguistic characteristics of Sri Lanka Malay (SLM) are atypical for a creole: a non-European, non-colonial lexifier (Vehicular Malay), and a single substrate (Sri Lanka Muslim Tamil) with which it remained in contact. The Tamil-like characteristics of present-day SLMdiffer from those often claimed to typify creoles. In particular, the SLMtense-mood-aspect system expresses Tamil categories rather than the traditional creole categories of anterior, nonpunctual and irrealis. Bakker (2000) claims 19th century SLM more closely resembled a ‘typical’ creole, and the Tamilization of SLM represents a recent process of ‘conversion’. However, present-day SLMdescends from (unrecorded) 19th century colloquial SLM, not from the written diglossic high. The Tamilized structure of SLM results more plausibly from its atypical developmental context than from recent influence.

Abstract

Two sociolinguistic characteristics of Sri Lanka Malay (SLM) are atypical for a creole: a non-European, non-colonial lexifier (Vehicular Malay), and a single substrate (Sri Lanka Muslim Tamil) with which it remained in contact. The Tamil-like characteristics of present-day SLMdiffer from those often claimed to typify creoles. In particular, the SLMtense-mood-aspect system expresses Tamil categories rather than the traditional creole categories of anterior, nonpunctual and irrealis. Bakker (2000) claims 19th century SLM more closely resembled a ‘typical’ creole, and the Tamilization of SLM represents a recent process of ‘conversion’. However, present-day SLMdescends from (unrecorded) 19th century colloquial SLM, not from the written diglossic high. The Tamilized structure of SLM results more plausibly from its atypical developmental context than from recent influence.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I: Structure
  5. The phonetics of tone in Saramaccan 9
  6. Tracing the origin of modality in the creoles of Suriname 29
  7. Modelling Creole Genesis 61
  8. The restructuring of tense/aspect systems in creole formation 85
  9. Syntactic properties of negation in Chinook Jargon, with a comparison of two source languages 111
  10. Sri Lankan Malay morphosyntax 135
  11. Sri Lanka Malay 159
  12. The advantages of a blockage-based etymological dictionary for proven or putative relexified languages 183
  13. Part II: Variation
  14. A fresh look at habitual be in AAVE 203
  15. Oral narrative and tense in urban Bahamian Creole English 225
  16. Aspects of variation in educated Nigerian Pidgin 243
  17. A linguistic time-capsule 263
  18. The progressive in the spoken Papiamentu of Aruba 291
  19. Was Haitian ever more like French? 315
  20. The late transfer of serial verb constructions as stylistic variants in Saramaccan creole 337
  21. Index 373
https://doi.org/10.1075/cll.29.09smi

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I: Structure
  5. The phonetics of tone in Saramaccan 9
  6. Tracing the origin of modality in the creoles of Suriname 29
  7. Modelling Creole Genesis 61
  8. The restructuring of tense/aspect systems in creole formation 85
  9. Syntactic properties of negation in Chinook Jargon, with a comparison of two source languages 111
  10. Sri Lankan Malay morphosyntax 135
  11. Sri Lanka Malay 159
  12. The advantages of a blockage-based etymological dictionary for proven or putative relexified languages 183
  13. Part II: Variation
  14. A fresh look at habitual be in AAVE 203
  15. Oral narrative and tense in urban Bahamian Creole English 225
  16. Aspects of variation in educated Nigerian Pidgin 243
  17. A linguistic time-capsule 263
  18. The progressive in the spoken Papiamentu of Aruba 291
  19. Was Haitian ever more like French? 315
  20. The late transfer of serial verb constructions as stylistic variants in Saramaccan creole 337
  21. Index 373
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