Crosslinguistic effects in adjectivization strategies in Suriname, Ghana and Togo
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Margot van den Berg
Abstract
Our paper seeks to honor John Singler’s longstanding contribution to the field of Pidgin and Creole studies by doing a comparison of outcomes of language contact under different social circumstances in the past and the present, in order to contribute to a better understanding of the interaction between sociohistorical and linguistic factors and language contact outcomes, a central topic in John Singler’s work. Our in-depth comparison of adjectivization strategies in the Surinamese Creoles and the Akan and Gbe languages of Ghana and Togo shows that adjectivization strategies in the Surinamese Creoles not only include traces of the European and African languages that contributed to their emergence via substratum influence, but also traces of innovative strategies that are typically found in contemporary multilingual discourse.
Abstract
Our paper seeks to honor John Singler’s longstanding contribution to the field of Pidgin and Creole studies by doing a comparison of outcomes of language contact under different social circumstances in the past and the present, in order to contribute to a better understanding of the interaction between sociohistorical and linguistic factors and language contact outcomes, a central topic in John Singler’s work. Our in-depth comparison of adjectivization strategies in the Surinamese Creoles and the Akan and Gbe languages of Ghana and Togo shows that adjectivization strategies in the Surinamese Creoles not only include traces of the European and African languages that contributed to their emergence via substratum influence, but also traces of innovative strategies that are typically found in contemporary multilingual discourse.
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
