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Empirical problems with domain-based notions of "simple"

  • Miriam Meyerhoff
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Social Lives in Language – Sociolinguistics and multilingual speech communities
This chapter is in the book Social Lives in Language – Sociolinguistics and multilingual speech communities

Abstract

This chapter addresses the on-going debate about the relative "simplicity" of creole languages. It proposes that an evaluation of simplicity/complexity must consider not only categorical features of a language but also probabilistic ones, because (it argues) there is a good deal of linguistic structure encoded stochastically in creoles. To illustrate this, it explores four case studies: the marking of inalienable possession in Bislama (Vanuatu), subject agreement in Bislama, possessive marking in Tayo (New Caledonia), and the recent emergence of a new complementiser in Bislama. Substrate, lexifier and cognitive constraints contribute to the emerging shape of all four features. The data argues for perspectives on creolisation that include non-deterministic features, and for a view of language structure straddling what are sometimes seen as discrete levels of linguistic structure.

Abstract

This chapter addresses the on-going debate about the relative "simplicity" of creole languages. It proposes that an evaluation of simplicity/complexity must consider not only categorical features of a language but also probabilistic ones, because (it argues) there is a good deal of linguistic structure encoded stochastically in creoles. To illustrate this, it explores four case studies: the marking of inalienable possession in Bislama (Vanuatu), subject agreement in Bislama, possessive marking in Tayo (New Caledonia), and the recent emergence of a new complementiser in Bislama. Substrate, lexifier and cognitive constraints contribute to the emerging shape of all four features. The data argues for perspectives on creolisation that include non-deterministic features, and for a view of language structure straddling what are sometimes seen as discrete levels of linguistic structure.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. Introduction: Social lives in language 1
  5. Photos of Gillian: Then and now 17
  6. Biographies of contributors and email addresses 19
  7. Part I. Language Ideology: From the speakers, what can we learn about the language?
  8. Language, mobility and (in)security: A journey through Francophone Canada 27
  9. Language repertoires and the middle class in urban Solomon Islands 43
  10. Land, language and identity: The socio-political origins of Gurindji Kriol 69
  11. "I've been speaking Tsotsitaal all my life without knowing it": Towards a unified account of tsotsitaals in South Africa. 95
  12. Tok Bokis, Tok Piksa: Translating parables in Papua New Guinea 111
  13. Part II. Bridging Macro- and Micro-sociolinguistics
  14. Chiac in context: Overview and evaluation of Acadie's Joual 137
  15. How to predict the evolution of a bilingual community 179
  16. How local is local French in Quebec? 195
  17. Part III. Quantitative sociolinguistics: From the languages, what can we learn about the speakers?
  18. Ne deletion in Picard and in regional French: Evidence for distinct grammars 223
  19. The dynamics of pronouns in the Québec languages in contact dynamics 249
  20. Subordinate clause marking in Montreal Anglophone French and English 273
  21. Mysteries of the substrate 315
  22. Empirical problems with domain-based notions of "simple" 327
  23. Index of names 357
  24. Index of subjects 361
https://doi.org/10.1075/impact.24.20mey

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. Introduction: Social lives in language 1
  5. Photos of Gillian: Then and now 17
  6. Biographies of contributors and email addresses 19
  7. Part I. Language Ideology: From the speakers, what can we learn about the language?
  8. Language, mobility and (in)security: A journey through Francophone Canada 27
  9. Language repertoires and the middle class in urban Solomon Islands 43
  10. Land, language and identity: The socio-political origins of Gurindji Kriol 69
  11. "I've been speaking Tsotsitaal all my life without knowing it": Towards a unified account of tsotsitaals in South Africa. 95
  12. Tok Bokis, Tok Piksa: Translating parables in Papua New Guinea 111
  13. Part II. Bridging Macro- and Micro-sociolinguistics
  14. Chiac in context: Overview and evaluation of Acadie's Joual 137
  15. How to predict the evolution of a bilingual community 179
  16. How local is local French in Quebec? 195
  17. Part III. Quantitative sociolinguistics: From the languages, what can we learn about the speakers?
  18. Ne deletion in Picard and in regional French: Evidence for distinct grammars 223
  19. The dynamics of pronouns in the Québec languages in contact dynamics 249
  20. Subordinate clause marking in Montreal Anglophone French and English 273
  21. Mysteries of the substrate 315
  22. Empirical problems with domain-based notions of "simple" 327
  23. Index of names 357
  24. Index of subjects 361
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