4. Tense marking and inflectional morphology in Indo-Portuguese creoles
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Ana R. Luís
Abstract
Some Indo-Portuguese creoles exhibit morphological patterns that are characteristic of inflecting languages such as Latin or Portuguese. Verb forms contain not only overt tense and aspect suffixes but also theme vowels which identify the conjugation class of the verb. The genuine theme vowels are meaningless inflectional units which make no contribution to the overall meaning of the verb. They are however an inherent part of the verbal paradigm and determine the shape of inflected verb forms. Because of the presence of genuine theme vowels, the inflectional paradigms of Indo-Portuguese make a clear distinction between roots, stems and suffixes. Both stems and suffixes also exhibit allomorphic shape alternations that are triggered solely by conjugation class distinctions.
The question as to why verbal inflection survived in this small group of Indo-Portuguese creoles will be tentatively explored from the perspective of naturalistic adult second language learning. Based on the growing consensus that creole formation involves substantial L2 acquisition by adults, we examine the extent to which sociocultural and attitudinal factors may have had an effect on the L2 grammars that emerged in the early stages of contact between Portuguese and the substrate languages. It will be argued that Indo-Portuguese creoles were shaped by substrate speakers who, as a result of their favourable attitude towards the Target Language community, acquired a L2 variety with overt verbal inflection (or “Post-Basic Variety”).
Abstract
Some Indo-Portuguese creoles exhibit morphological patterns that are characteristic of inflecting languages such as Latin or Portuguese. Verb forms contain not only overt tense and aspect suffixes but also theme vowels which identify the conjugation class of the verb. The genuine theme vowels are meaningless inflectional units which make no contribution to the overall meaning of the verb. They are however an inherent part of the verbal paradigm and determine the shape of inflected verb forms. Because of the presence of genuine theme vowels, the inflectional paradigms of Indo-Portuguese make a clear distinction between roots, stems and suffixes. Both stems and suffixes also exhibit allomorphic shape alternations that are triggered solely by conjugation class distinctions.
The question as to why verbal inflection survived in this small group of Indo-Portuguese creoles will be tentatively explored from the perspective of naturalistic adult second language learning. Based on the growing consensus that creole formation involves substantial L2 acquisition by adults, we examine the extent to which sociocultural and attitudinal factors may have had an effect on the L2 grammars that emerged in the early stages of contact between Portuguese and the substrate languages. It will be argued that Indo-Portuguese creoles were shaped by substrate speakers who, as a result of their favourable attitude towards the Target Language community, acquired a L2 variety with overt verbal inflection (or “Post-Basic Variety”).
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- List of standard abbreviations ix
- Preface xi
- 1. The problem of multiple substrates: The case of Jamaican Creole 1
- 2. The superstrate is not always the lexifier: Lingua Franca in the Barbary Coast 1530-1830 29
- 3. In praise of the cafeteria principle: Language mixing in Hawai'i Creole 59
- 4. Tense marking and inflectional morphology in Indo-Portuguese creoles 83
- 5. Vowel epenthesis and creole syllable structure 123
- 6. The origin of the Portuguese words in Saramaccan: Implications for sociohistory 153
- 7. Encoding path in Mauritian Creole and Bhojpuri: Problems of language contact 169
- 8. On the principled nature of the respective contributions of substrate and superstrate languages to a creole's lexicon 197
- 9. Valency patterns in Seychelles Creole: Where do they come from? 225
- 10. A first step towards the analysis of tone in Santomense 253
- 11. Balanta, Guiné-Bissau Creole Portuguese and Portuguese: A comparison of the noun phrase 263
- 12. Zamboangueño Chavacano and the potentive mode 279
- 13. Between contact and internal development: Towards a multi-layered explanation for the development of the TMA system in the creoles of Suriname 301
- 14. The formation of deverbal nouns in Vincentian Creole: Morpho-phonological and morpho-syntactic processes 333
- 15. A la recherche du "superstrat" : What North American French can and cannot tell us about the input to creolization 357
- Personal name index 385
- Language index 391
- Places and Peoples index 405
- Subject index 411
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- List of standard abbreviations ix
- Preface xi
- 1. The problem of multiple substrates: The case of Jamaican Creole 1
- 2. The superstrate is not always the lexifier: Lingua Franca in the Barbary Coast 1530-1830 29
- 3. In praise of the cafeteria principle: Language mixing in Hawai'i Creole 59
- 4. Tense marking and inflectional morphology in Indo-Portuguese creoles 83
- 5. Vowel epenthesis and creole syllable structure 123
- 6. The origin of the Portuguese words in Saramaccan: Implications for sociohistory 153
- 7. Encoding path in Mauritian Creole and Bhojpuri: Problems of language contact 169
- 8. On the principled nature of the respective contributions of substrate and superstrate languages to a creole's lexicon 197
- 9. Valency patterns in Seychelles Creole: Where do they come from? 225
- 10. A first step towards the analysis of tone in Santomense 253
- 11. Balanta, Guiné-Bissau Creole Portuguese and Portuguese: A comparison of the noun phrase 263
- 12. Zamboangueño Chavacano and the potentive mode 279
- 13. Between contact and internal development: Towards a multi-layered explanation for the development of the TMA system in the creoles of Suriname 301
- 14. The formation of deverbal nouns in Vincentian Creole: Morpho-phonological and morpho-syntactic processes 333
- 15. A la recherche du "superstrat" : What North American French can and cannot tell us about the input to creolization 357
- Personal name index 385
- Language index 391
- Places and Peoples index 405
- Subject index 411
