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Gradual vs. abrupt creolization and recent changes in Daman Creole Portuguese

  • J. Clancy Clements
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Gradual Creolization
This chapter is in the book Gradual Creolization

Abstract

This paper recasts the dichotomous view of gradualist vs. abrupt creolization as a continuum. It is suggested that the rapidity of creolization would ultimately depend, not on linguistic factors, but rather on the social conditions of the contact situation (Thomason and Kaufman 1988: 35). In such a continuum model, the cognitive processes (e.g. perceptual salience and frequency effects) play an important role. Within this model, two recent changes in Daman Creole Portuguese (DCP) are examined: the development of sә nãw ‘if not, otherwise’ as a coordinate conjunction ‘and’ that only conjoins sentences, and the emergence of dә ‘of, from’ as a multi-functional preposition with the meanings ‘from, of, in, on, to’. It is argued that both changes can be accounted for by appealing to perceptual salience and frequency effects within the social context of the youngest speakers of DCP.

Abstract

This paper recasts the dichotomous view of gradualist vs. abrupt creolization as a continuum. It is suggested that the rapidity of creolization would ultimately depend, not on linguistic factors, but rather on the social conditions of the contact situation (Thomason and Kaufman 1988: 35). In such a continuum model, the cognitive processes (e.g. perceptual salience and frequency effects) play an important role. Within this model, two recent changes in Daman Creole Portuguese (DCP) are examined: the development of sә nãw ‘if not, otherwise’ as a coordinate conjunction ‘and’ that only conjoins sentences, and the emergence of dә ‘of, from’ as a multi-functional preposition with the meanings ‘from, of, in, on, to’. It is argued that both changes can be accounted for by appealing to perceptual salience and frequency effects within the social context of the youngest speakers of DCP.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Maps ix
  4. Introductory words
  5. One more cup of coffee: On Gradual Creolization 3
  6. Jacques Arends' model of gradual creolization 13
  7. Part 1. Linguistic analysis
  8. Productive bimorphemic structures and the concept of gradual creolization 27
  9. Gradual vs. abrupt creolization and recent changes in Daman Creole Portuguese 55
  10. Gradual restructuring in Ecuadorian Quechua 77
  11. A note on the process of lexical diffusion in the development of creoles: The case of double-object verbs 101
  12. Change in the possessive system of French Caribbean Creole languages 113
  13. The origin and development of possibility in the creoles of Suriname 129
  14. The Saramaccan lexicon: Verbs 155
  15. Development of a creole lexicon 173
  16. Gradualism in the transfer of tone spread rules in Saramaccan 189
  17. In search of a submerged phonology: The case of early Cape Dutch Pidgin 219
  18. Part 2. Sociohistorical reconstruction
  19. Bilingualism and creolization in Solomon Islands 245
  20. Lingua Franca in West Africa? An evaluation of the sociohistorical and metalinguistic evidence 257
  21. The formation of the Portuguese-based Creoles: Gradual or abrupt? 279
  22. English-speaking in early Surinam? 305
  23. The demographic context of creolization in early English Jamaica, 1655-1700 327
  24. The founder principle and Anguilla's homestead society 349
  25. Demographic factors in the formation of French Guianese Creole 373
  26. Index 389
https://doi.org/10.1075/cll.34.08cle

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Maps ix
  4. Introductory words
  5. One more cup of coffee: On Gradual Creolization 3
  6. Jacques Arends' model of gradual creolization 13
  7. Part 1. Linguistic analysis
  8. Productive bimorphemic structures and the concept of gradual creolization 27
  9. Gradual vs. abrupt creolization and recent changes in Daman Creole Portuguese 55
  10. Gradual restructuring in Ecuadorian Quechua 77
  11. A note on the process of lexical diffusion in the development of creoles: The case of double-object verbs 101
  12. Change in the possessive system of French Caribbean Creole languages 113
  13. The origin and development of possibility in the creoles of Suriname 129
  14. The Saramaccan lexicon: Verbs 155
  15. Development of a creole lexicon 173
  16. Gradualism in the transfer of tone spread rules in Saramaccan 189
  17. In search of a submerged phonology: The case of early Cape Dutch Pidgin 219
  18. Part 2. Sociohistorical reconstruction
  19. Bilingualism and creolization in Solomon Islands 245
  20. Lingua Franca in West Africa? An evaluation of the sociohistorical and metalinguistic evidence 257
  21. The formation of the Portuguese-based Creoles: Gradual or abrupt? 279
  22. English-speaking in early Surinam? 305
  23. The demographic context of creolization in early English Jamaica, 1655-1700 327
  24. The founder principle and Anguilla's homestead society 349
  25. Demographic factors in the formation of French Guianese Creole 373
  26. Index 389
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