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Explaining Kabuverdianu nominal plural formation

  • Angela Bartens and Niclas Sandström
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Language Complexity
This chapter is in the book Language Complexity

Abstract

In this study, we apply the morphosyntactic 4-M model developed by Myers-Scotton and Jake (2000a, b) to data from Kabuverdianu or Cape Verdean Creole Portuguese (CVC) which has been less strongly restructured than so-called prototypical creoles.1 We focus on nominal plural marking where CVC presents similar morphosyntactic configurations as Brazilian Vernacular Portuguese (BVP) and the Portuguese spoken by the “Tongas”. Previous accounts of CVC and BVP nominal plural marking mention the occurrence of (at least) one inflectional marker per NP. We argue that the reduction of inflectional plural marking in CVC constitutes a case of overall loss of morphosyntactic complexity which is due to CVC having arisen through substantial reduction and restructuring during creolisation and to having shallow time-depth of existence in comparison to older languages, e.g., its lexifier Portuguese. We also argue that 4-M theory may constitute a useful diagnostic tool for the prediction of the configurations of complexity vs. simplification in cases of language reduction.

Abstract

In this study, we apply the morphosyntactic 4-M model developed by Myers-Scotton and Jake (2000a, b) to data from Kabuverdianu or Cape Verdean Creole Portuguese (CVC) which has been less strongly restructured than so-called prototypical creoles.1 We focus on nominal plural marking where CVC presents similar morphosyntactic configurations as Brazilian Vernacular Portuguese (BVP) and the Portuguese spoken by the “Tongas”. Previous accounts of CVC and BVP nominal plural marking mention the occurrence of (at least) one inflectional marker per NP. We argue that the reduction of inflectional plural marking in CVC constitutes a case of overall loss of morphosyntactic complexity which is due to CVC having arisen through substantial reduction and restructuring during creolisation and to having shallow time-depth of existence in comparison to older languages, e.g., its lexifier Portuguese. We also argue that 4-M theory may constitute a useful diagnostic tool for the prediction of the configurations of complexity vs. simplification in cases of language reduction.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction: The problem of language complexity vii
  4. I. Typology and theory
  5. Complexity in linguistic theory, language learning and language change 3
  6. Grammatical complexity in cross-linguistic perspective 23
  7. Complexity trade-offs between the subsystems of language 43
  8. Complexity trade-offs in core argument marking 67
  9. Assessing linguistic complexity 89
  10. How complex are isolating languages? 109
  11. Complexity in isolating languages: Lexical elaboration versus grammatical economy 133
  12. Grammatical resources and linguistic complexity: Sirionó as a language without NP coordination 153
  13. II. Contact and change
  14. Why does a language undress? Strange cases in Indonesia 167
  15. Morphological complexity as a parameter of linguistic typology: Hungarian as a contact language 191
  16. Language complexity and interlinguistic difficulty 217
  17. Complexity in nominal plural allomorphy: A contrastive survey of ten Germanic languages 243
  18. III. Creoles and pidgins
  19. The simplicity of creoles in a cross-linguistic perspective 265
  20. Complexity in numeral systems with an investigation into pidgins and creoles 287
  21. Explaining Kabuverdianu nominal plural formation 305
  22. Complexity and simplicity in minimal lexica: The lexicon of Chinook Jargon 321
  23. Index of languages 341
  24. Index of authors 345
  25. Index of subjects 349
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.94.19bar

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction: The problem of language complexity vii
  4. I. Typology and theory
  5. Complexity in linguistic theory, language learning and language change 3
  6. Grammatical complexity in cross-linguistic perspective 23
  7. Complexity trade-offs between the subsystems of language 43
  8. Complexity trade-offs in core argument marking 67
  9. Assessing linguistic complexity 89
  10. How complex are isolating languages? 109
  11. Complexity in isolating languages: Lexical elaboration versus grammatical economy 133
  12. Grammatical resources and linguistic complexity: Sirionó as a language without NP coordination 153
  13. II. Contact and change
  14. Why does a language undress? Strange cases in Indonesia 167
  15. Morphological complexity as a parameter of linguistic typology: Hungarian as a contact language 191
  16. Language complexity and interlinguistic difficulty 217
  17. Complexity in nominal plural allomorphy: A contrastive survey of ten Germanic languages 243
  18. III. Creoles and pidgins
  19. The simplicity of creoles in a cross-linguistic perspective 265
  20. Complexity in numeral systems with an investigation into pidgins and creoles 287
  21. Explaining Kabuverdianu nominal plural formation 305
  22. Complexity and simplicity in minimal lexica: The lexicon of Chinook Jargon 321
  23. Index of languages 341
  24. Index of authors 345
  25. Index of subjects 349
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