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Lingua Franca in West Africa? An evaluation of the sociohistorical and metalinguistic evidence

  • Magnus Huber
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Gradual Creolization
This chapter is in the book Gradual Creolization

Abstract

This article investigates the nature of 15th - 18th century Afro-European linguistic contacts on the Lower Guinea Coast of Africa with the aim of establishing whether the Portuguese could have spread the Mediterranean Lingua Franca to Lower Guinea. There is solid evidence that a Portuguese-lexified contact language, referred to as ‘(broken) Portuguese’ and/or ‘Lingua Franca’ in historical sources, was used as a trade pidgin in West Africa until the second half of the 18th century. I will argue that interpreting these terms as referring to two distinct but gradually converging varieties, a locally formed Pidgin Portuguese and an offshoot of the Mediterranean Lingua Franca, is consistent with the historical evidence. The question of gradual structural expansion and creolization of West African Pidgin Portuguese will also be addressed.

Abstract

This article investigates the nature of 15th - 18th century Afro-European linguistic contacts on the Lower Guinea Coast of Africa with the aim of establishing whether the Portuguese could have spread the Mediterranean Lingua Franca to Lower Guinea. There is solid evidence that a Portuguese-lexified contact language, referred to as ‘(broken) Portuguese’ and/or ‘Lingua Franca’ in historical sources, was used as a trade pidgin in West Africa until the second half of the 18th century. I will argue that interpreting these terms as referring to two distinct but gradually converging varieties, a locally formed Pidgin Portuguese and an offshoot of the Mediterranean Lingua Franca, is consistent with the historical evidence. The question of gradual structural expansion and creolization of West African Pidgin Portuguese will also be addressed.

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.34.19hub

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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