Why neither demographics nor feature pools can explain the missing Spanish plantation creoles

McWhorter, John

doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2017.12.006

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Assuming for a moment that randomness is really the best way to proceed in this case, taking a look at their feature selection it seems that they fell short of the target expectations, since they randomly removed tonal and morphological features, which are at the core of the Creole Debate (Seuren and Wekker, 1986;McWhorter, 1998McWhorter, , 2001McWhorter, , 2018aBakker et al, 2011;DeGraff, 2003DeGraff, , 2005. Given that these computer simulations per se do not explain the processes at work in creolization, there are infinite ways in which the feature database could be built to back one theory or the other.…”

Section: Theoretical Issues With Blasi Et Al (2017)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…or the past years the field of contact linguistics has been characterized by a heated debate, recently labeled the Creole Debate (McWhorter, 2018a), which focuses on the structural and typological status of creole languages. On the one hand, some scholars have claimed that creoles may be classified according to their structural properties (Bickerton, 1981) or as a typological class (Bakker et al, 2011;McWhorter, 1998McWhorter, , 2001; Seuren and Wekker, 1986).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Not all grammatical features are robustly transmitted during the emergence of creoles

Sessarego

2020

Humanit Soc Sci Commun

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper addresses the long-standing debate on the nature and complexity of creole languages. Contrary to what has been claimed in the literature, it is argued that grammars are neither robustly transmitted during the emergence of creoles nor that creole languages represent the simplest grammars in the world. On the contrary, after laying down a theoretical framework that spells out the existence of at least three distinct second-language acquisition (SLA) processes shaping creoles, it is shown how different aspects of the ancestor grammars (and their potential complexities) may or may not be transmitted to the emerging creoles and why.

show abstract

Section: Theoretical Issues With Blasi Et Al (2017)mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Not all grammatical features are robustly transmitted during the emergence of creoles

Sessarego

2020

Humanit Soc Sci Commun

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Interfaces and Domains of Contact-Driven Restructuring

Sessarego

2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Afro-Hispanic Languages of the Americas (AHLAs) present a number of grammatical similarities that have traditionally been ascribed to a previous creole stage. Approaching creole studies from contrasting standpoints, this groundbreaking book provides a new account of these phenomena. How did these features come about? What linguistic mechanisms can account for their parallel existence in several contact varieties? How can we formalize such mechanisms within a comprehensive theoretical framework? How can these new datasets help us test and refine current formal theories, which have primarily been based on standardized language data? In addressing these important questions, this book not only casts new light on the nature of the AHLAs, it also provides new theoretical and methodological perspectives for a more integrated approach to the study of contact-driven restructuring across language interfaces and linguistic domains.

show abstract

Palenquero origins

Parkvall

Jacobs

2020

DIA

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Palenquero is a Spanish-lexified creole spoken in Columbia. We argue that existing hypotheses regarding its birth are problematic in several regards. This article addresses the inconsistencies in these hypotheses and provides an alternative, more coherent account. More precisely, we take issue with the following three claims: (a) Palenquero is the result of a two-language encounter; (b) it has its roots in a West African Afro-Portuguese proto-variety; (c) an ancestral form of the creole emerged in the port city of Cartagena. We then set out to present our own, more economical, formation scenario, according to which Palenquero was formed in the early 1600s in the linguistically heterogenous maroon communities of the Cartagenan hinterlands.

show abstract

Why neither demographics nor feature pools can explain the missing Spanish plantation creoles

Cited by 4 publications

References 13 publications

Not all grammatical features are robustly transmitted during the emergence of creoles

Not all grammatical features are robustly transmitted during the emergence of creoles

Interfaces and Domains of Contact-Driven Restructuring

Palenquero origins

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About