The African diaspora in Latin America
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Gregory R. Guy
Abstract
Some 60% of the Atlantic slave traffic was directed to Luso-Hispanic America, principally Brazil, Cuba, Hispaniola, Colombia, etc., where people of African ancestry still form substantial majorities in some areas. This paper examines the linguistic consequences of this massive contact between Africans and Europeans. In colonial times, non-native and pidgin/creole varieties clearly existed in Latin America (cf. Palenquero, Papiamentu, Cuban habla bozal). In contemporary Latin America, people of African ancestry tend to be the defining speakers of nonstandard varieties whose linguistic characteristics are best explained in terms of a history of contact and/or creolization. Overall, popular Latin American Spanish and Portuguese appear to have been significantly influenced by Afro-European language contact.
Abstract
Some 60% of the Atlantic slave traffic was directed to Luso-Hispanic America, principally Brazil, Cuba, Hispaniola, Colombia, etc., where people of African ancestry still form substantial majorities in some areas. This paper examines the linguistic consequences of this massive contact between Africans and Europeans. In colonial times, non-native and pidgin/creole varieties clearly existed in Latin America (cf. Palenquero, Papiamentu, Cuban habla bozal). In contemporary Latin America, people of African ancestry tend to be the defining speakers of nonstandard varieties whose linguistic characteristics are best explained in terms of a history of contact and/or creolization. Overall, popular Latin American Spanish and Portuguese appear to have been significantly influenced by Afro-European language contact.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1. The sociohistorical matrix of language contact
- Population factors, multilingualism and the emergence of grammar 23
- The African diaspora in Latin America 49
- The sociohistorical matrix of creolization and the role children played in this process 79
- Creole as necessity? Creole as choice? 101
- Bahamian Creole English 123
- Linguistic commonality in English of the African diaspora 145
- Historical separations 177
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Part 2. Sources of grammar and processes of language contact
- Some observations on the sources of AAVE structure 203
- Unity in diversity 225
- Krio as the Western Maroon Creole language of Jamaica, and the /na/ isogloss 251
- Number marking in Jamaican Patwa 275
- Variationist creolistics, with a phonological focus 305
- Pidginization versus second language acquisition 323
- Crosslinguistic effects in adjectivization strategies in Suriname, Ghana and Togo 343
- Author index 363
- Language index 365
- Subject index 367
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1. The sociohistorical matrix of language contact
- Population factors, multilingualism and the emergence of grammar 23
- The African diaspora in Latin America 49
- The sociohistorical matrix of creolization and the role children played in this process 79
- Creole as necessity? Creole as choice? 101
- Bahamian Creole English 123
- Linguistic commonality in English of the African diaspora 145
- Historical separations 177
-
Part 2. Sources of grammar and processes of language contact
- Some observations on the sources of AAVE structure 203
- Unity in diversity 225
- Krio as the Western Maroon Creole language of Jamaica, and the /na/ isogloss 251
- Number marking in Jamaican Patwa 275
- Variationist creolistics, with a phonological focus 305
- Pidginization versus second language acquisition 323
- Crosslinguistic effects in adjectivization strategies in Suriname, Ghana and Togo 343
- Author index 363
- Language index 365
- Subject index 367
