Our creolized tongues
-
Enoch O. Aboh
Abstract
It is often assumed that creole languages represent ‘exceptional’ language development in which a contact language or a variety largely spoken by late L2 learners nativizes and becomes the main language of a community. It is therefore not uncommon that scholars of contact languages or revitalized languages (e.g., Hebrew) ask whether such languages are creoles or not. The common assumption is that so-called creoles exhibit certain specific linguistic features which distinguish them from other non-creolized languages, and which could be used as a yardstick to evaluate the status of other languages as creoles. But, what if any given language is a creolized form of a pre-existing language spoken by previous generations? In this paper, I argue that language acquisition always happens in a situation of contact comparable to creole contexts, in which learners are faced with heterogeneous inputs and recombine competing linguistic features into new linguistic items. Under this view, all natural languages involve a hybrid grammar. I further discuss how recombination leads to linguistic variation both at the learner’s and population level.
Abstract
It is often assumed that creole languages represent ‘exceptional’ language development in which a contact language or a variety largely spoken by late L2 learners nativizes and becomes the main language of a community. It is therefore not uncommon that scholars of contact languages or revitalized languages (e.g., Hebrew) ask whether such languages are creoles or not. The common assumption is that so-called creoles exhibit certain specific linguistic features which distinguish them from other non-creolized languages, and which could be used as a yardstick to evaluate the status of other languages as creoles. But, what if any given language is a creolized form of a pre-existing language spoken by previous generations? In this paper, I argue that language acquisition always happens in a situation of contact comparable to creole contexts, in which learners are faced with heterogeneous inputs and recombine competing linguistic features into new linguistic items. Under this view, all natural languages involve a hybrid grammar. I further discuss how recombination leads to linguistic variation both at the learner’s and population level.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Acknowledgement and Preface ix
- Introduction 1
- The limits of multiple-source contact influence 33
- Existential possessive modality in the emergence of Modern Hebrew 55
- The derivation of a concessive from an aspectual adverb by reanalysis in Modern Hebrew 95
- Why did the future form of the verb displace the imperative form in the informal register of Modern Hebrew? 117
- The change in Hebrew from a V-framed to an S-framed Language 143
- From written to spoken usage 179
- Language change, prescriptive language, and spontaneous speech in Modern Hebrew 201
- The biblical sources of Modern Hebrew syntax 221
- Can there be language continuity in language contact? 257
- Our creolized tongues 287
- Why do children lead contact-induced language change in some contexts but not others? 321
- Variation and conventionalization in language emergence 337
- “Mame Loshen” 365
- Index 387
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Acknowledgement and Preface ix
- Introduction 1
- The limits of multiple-source contact influence 33
- Existential possessive modality in the emergence of Modern Hebrew 55
- The derivation of a concessive from an aspectual adverb by reanalysis in Modern Hebrew 95
- Why did the future form of the verb displace the imperative form in the informal register of Modern Hebrew? 117
- The change in Hebrew from a V-framed to an S-framed Language 143
- From written to spoken usage 179
- Language change, prescriptive language, and spontaneous speech in Modern Hebrew 201
- The biblical sources of Modern Hebrew syntax 221
- Can there be language continuity in language contact? 257
- Our creolized tongues 287
- Why do children lead contact-induced language change in some contexts but not others? 321
- Variation and conventionalization in language emergence 337
- “Mame Loshen” 365
- Index 387
