A linguistic time-capsule
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Fernanda L. Ferreira
Abstract
The present study builds on the work of Lipski (2005a) regarding the nature and scope of Afro-Iberian language. It narrowly focuses on pluralization patterns found in historical texts covering five centuries. The analyses show that the representations of Black speech in Afro-Portuguese examples are consistent with a pattern of plural marking independently verified in comparable creole and semi-creole systems, such as Cape Verdean, Papiamentu, Helvécia and popular varieties of Brazilian Portuguese. Comparatively, the evidence of variation found in earlier Afro-Hispanic texts is less conclusive about the possible contribution of the bozal language to modern-day varieties of Caribbean Spanish. The analyses add to the debate over the prior creolization of non-standard varieties in Latin America.
Abstract
The present study builds on the work of Lipski (2005a) regarding the nature and scope of Afro-Iberian language. It narrowly focuses on pluralization patterns found in historical texts covering five centuries. The analyses show that the representations of Black speech in Afro-Portuguese examples are consistent with a pattern of plural marking independently verified in comparable creole and semi-creole systems, such as Cape Verdean, Papiamentu, Helvécia and popular varieties of Brazilian Portuguese. Comparatively, the evidence of variation found in earlier Afro-Hispanic texts is less conclusive about the possible contribution of the bozal language to modern-day varieties of Caribbean Spanish. The analyses add to the debate over the prior creolization of non-standard varieties in Latin America.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Introduction 1
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Part I: Structure
- The phonetics of tone in Saramaccan 9
- Tracing the origin of modality in the creoles of Suriname 29
- Modelling Creole Genesis 61
- The restructuring of tense/aspect systems in creole formation 85
- Syntactic properties of negation in Chinook Jargon, with a comparison of two source languages 111
- Sri Lankan Malay morphosyntax 135
- Sri Lanka Malay 159
- The advantages of a blockage-based etymological dictionary for proven or putative relexified languages 183
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Part II: Variation
- A fresh look at habitual be in AAVE 203
- Oral narrative and tense in urban Bahamian Creole English 225
- Aspects of variation in educated Nigerian Pidgin 243
- A linguistic time-capsule 263
- The progressive in the spoken Papiamentu of Aruba 291
- Was Haitian ever more like French? 315
- The late transfer of serial verb constructions as stylistic variants in Saramaccan creole 337
- Index 373
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Introduction 1
-
Part I: Structure
- The phonetics of tone in Saramaccan 9
- Tracing the origin of modality in the creoles of Suriname 29
- Modelling Creole Genesis 61
- The restructuring of tense/aspect systems in creole formation 85
- Syntactic properties of negation in Chinook Jargon, with a comparison of two source languages 111
- Sri Lankan Malay morphosyntax 135
- Sri Lanka Malay 159
- The advantages of a blockage-based etymological dictionary for proven or putative relexified languages 183
-
Part II: Variation
- A fresh look at habitual be in AAVE 203
- Oral narrative and tense in urban Bahamian Creole English 225
- Aspects of variation in educated Nigerian Pidgin 243
- A linguistic time-capsule 263
- The progressive in the spoken Papiamentu of Aruba 291
- Was Haitian ever more like French? 315
- The late transfer of serial verb constructions as stylistic variants in Saramaccan creole 337
- Index 373
