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The invisible hand in creole genesis

Reanalysis in the formation of Berbice Dutch
  • Silvia Kouwenberg
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Complex Processes in New Languages
Ein Kapitel aus dem Buch Complex Processes in New Languages

Abstract

This paper considers the historical context in which Berbice Dutch was formed before turning to the significance of the presence in that language of function words derived from the Eastern Ịjọ substrate. The view that transfer of Eastern Ịjọ grammatical properties took place in the formation of Berbice Dutch, is subjected to detailed scrutiny for tense-mood-aspect marking and negation. Despite similarities, important areas of divergence or discontinuity between Berbice Dutch and its substrate are identified – areas which point to reanalysis of substrate-derived functional material in the genesis of Berbice Dutch. This runs counter to the view that Eastern Ịjọ speakers played a central role in the formation of Berbice Dutch, and suggests that ‘the invisible hand’ in its genesis must have been another group, possibly the mixed progeny of the plantation population, which included Dutch, Eastern Ịjọ and Arawak speakers.

Abstract

This paper considers the historical context in which Berbice Dutch was formed before turning to the significance of the presence in that language of function words derived from the Eastern Ịjọ substrate. The view that transfer of Eastern Ịjọ grammatical properties took place in the formation of Berbice Dutch, is subjected to detailed scrutiny for tense-mood-aspect marking and negation. Despite similarities, important areas of divergence or discontinuity between Berbice Dutch and its substrate are identified – areas which point to reanalysis of substrate-derived functional material in the genesis of Berbice Dutch. This runs counter to the view that Eastern Ịjọ speakers played a central role in the formation of Berbice Dutch, and suggests that ‘the invisible hand’ in its genesis must have been another group, possibly the mixed progeny of the plantation population, which included Dutch, Eastern Ịjọ and Arawak speakers.

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgments vii
  4. Simplicity, simplification, complexity and complexification 1
  5. Part I. Morpho-phonology
  6. Initial vowel agglutination in the Gulf of Guinea creoles 29
  7. Simplification of a complex part of grammar or not? 51
  8. Reducing phonological complexity and grammatical opaqueness 75
  9. Part II. Verbal morphology
  10. Verb allomorphy and the syntax of phases 99
  11. The invisible hand in creole genesis 115
  12. Complexification or regularization of paradigms 159
  13. Part III. Nominals
  14. The Mauritian Creole determiner system 173
  15. Demonstratives in Afrikaans and Cape Dutch Pidgin 201
  16. Part IV. The selection of features in complex morphology
  17. Contact, complexification and change in Mindanao Chabacano structure 223
  18. Morphosyntactic finiteness as increased complexity in a mixed negation system 243
  19. Contact language formation in evolutionary terms 265
  20. Part V. Evaluating simplification and complexification
  21. Economy, innovation and degrees of complexity in creole formation 293
  22. Competition and selection 317
  23. Complexity and the age of languages 345
  24. Part VI. Postscript
  25. Restructuring, hybridization, and complexity in language evolution 367
  26. Language index 401
  27. Subject index 405
https://doi.org/10.1075/cll.35.09kou

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgments vii
  4. Simplicity, simplification, complexity and complexification 1
  5. Part I. Morpho-phonology
  6. Initial vowel agglutination in the Gulf of Guinea creoles 29
  7. Simplification of a complex part of grammar or not? 51
  8. Reducing phonological complexity and grammatical opaqueness 75
  9. Part II. Verbal morphology
  10. Verb allomorphy and the syntax of phases 99
  11. The invisible hand in creole genesis 115
  12. Complexification or regularization of paradigms 159
  13. Part III. Nominals
  14. The Mauritian Creole determiner system 173
  15. Demonstratives in Afrikaans and Cape Dutch Pidgin 201
  16. Part IV. The selection of features in complex morphology
  17. Contact, complexification and change in Mindanao Chabacano structure 223
  18. Morphosyntactic finiteness as increased complexity in a mixed negation system 243
  19. Contact language formation in evolutionary terms 265
  20. Part V. Evaluating simplification and complexification
  21. Economy, innovation and degrees of complexity in creole formation 293
  22. Competition and selection 317
  23. Complexity and the age of languages 345
  24. Part VI. Postscript
  25. Restructuring, hybridization, and complexity in language evolution 367
  26. Language index 401
  27. Subject index 405
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© 2026 De Gruyter Brill
Heruntergeladen am 1.1.2026 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/cll.35.09kou/html?lang=de
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