DOCSLIB.ORG

The Classification of the English-Lexifier Creole Languages

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Classification of the English-Lexifier Creole Languages DigitalResources SIL eBook 25 ® The Classification of the English-Lexifier Creole Languages Spoken in Grenada, Guyana, St. Vincent, and Tobago Using a Comparison of the Markers of Some Key Grammatical Features: A Tool for Determining the Potential to Share and/or Adapt Literary Development Materials David Joseph Holbrook The Classification of the English-Lexifier Creole Languages Spoken in Grenada, Guyana, St. Vincent, and Tobago Using a Comparison of the Markers of Some Key Grammatical Features: A Tool for Determining the Potential to Share and/or Adapt Literary Development Materials David Joseph Holbrook SIL International ® 2012 SIL e-Books 25 2012 SIL International ® ISBN: 978-1-55671-268-5 ISSN: 1934-2470 Fair-Use Policy: Books published in the SIL e-Books (SILEB) series are intended for scholarly research and educational use. You may make copies of these publications for research or instructional purposes free of charge (within fair-use guidelines) and without further permission. Republication or commercial use of SILEB or the documents contained therein is expressly prohibited without the written consent of the copyright holder(s). Series Editor George Huttar Volume Editor Dirk Kievit Managing Editor Bonnie Brown Compositor Margaret González Abstract This study examines the four English-lexifier creole languages spoken in Grenada, Guyana, St. Vincent, and Tobago. These languages are classified using a comparison of some of the markers of key grammatical features identified as being typical of pidgin and creole languages. The classification is based on a scoring system that takes into account the potential problems in translation due to differences in the mapping of semantic notions. This scoring system allows for a quantification of the data being compared, which provides a relative score for the potential intelligibility and acceptability of sharing literary material from one creole to another. Basing the classification on key grammatical markers allows for the use of this classification in determining if it is possible to conduct Machine Assisted Human Translation (MAHT) of literary materials developed in one creole to another (i.e., adaptation). Using the markers to classify and group these languages provides further information in the MAHT process. The markers of the grammatical features can be input into the MAHT tool (the computer programme) even before the translation process is begun. This classification tool has implications in the areas of the classification of creole languages based on historical and sociohistorical events, the spread of grammatical features among English-lexifier creoles, decreolisation, variation studies, and literary development. Keywords: David Joseph Holbrook; creole languages; Grenadian Creole; Guyanese Creole; Tobagonian Creole; Vincentian Creole; translation; classification of languages; literary development; grammar. iii Contents Abstract 1 Introduction The Problem Purpose of the Study Factors to Consider Why These Four Creoles Comparison of Grammars Synchronic Examination Intelligibility Acceptability Not a “Common Ground Dialect” Phonology and Orthography Selection of Grammatical Markers More Than Verbal Markers One Does Not Equal All Creole Language Origins Communication: The Heart of it All Sharing and Adapting: Some Differences Significance of the Study 2 Review of Literature Translation Machine Translation and Computer-Assisted Translation Contributions of Previous Research Research focusing on language universals and creole languages Research focusing on the relationship of second language acquisition and creole languages Research into genetic relationships of creole languages Comparative research of creole languages: creoles of different lexical bases Comparative research of creole languages: English-lexifier creoles Research into individual English-lexifier creole languages Selection of Grammatical Features Literary Development of Grenadian, Guyanese, Tobagonian, and Vincentian The Future 3 Methods and Design Scope and Limitations Selection of Subjects and Variables in Data Gathering Elicitation of Data Types of Discourse and Data Elicited The Creole Continuum—Problems for Data Selection Review of Data Scoring of Potential Intelligibility/Acceptability Potential Intelligibility/Acceptability (PIA) Design of the scoring system Description of the scoring system 4 Comparison of Grammatical Markers Personal Pronouns Personal Pronouns Potential Intelligibility/Acceptability (PIA) Scores Possessive Pronouns Possessive Pronouns Potential Intelligibility/Acceptability (PIA) Scores All Possessive Pronominal Markers PIA Scores Reflexive Pronouns Reflexive Pronouns Potential Intelligibility/Acceptability (PIA) Scores iv v All Personal Pronominal Markers PIA Scores Determiners (Articles and Demonstrative Pronouns) Determiner Markers Potential Intelligibility/Acceptability (PIA) Scores Plural Marking on Nouns Plural Markers Potential Intelligibility/Acceptability (PIA) Scores Noun Phrase Markers Combined PIA Scores Non-Stative Verb Markers Non-stative Verb Markers PIA Scores Stative Verb Markers Equational statives Fronted copula for purpose of focus Existential statives Past and future marking of statives Stative Verb Markers PIA Scores Serial Verbs Serial Verb Markers PIA Scores Negation Negation Markers PIA Scores Modals Modal Markers PIA Scores Relative Clause Markers Relative Clause Markers PIA Scores Quotation Formulas Quotation Formula PIA Scores All Verbal Elements Combined PIA Scores Prepositions Individual Prepositional semantic meanings Compound Prepositions Semantic Meanings Grouping of Prepositions Based on Semantic Meanings Preposition PIA scores All Markers PIA Scores Alternative scoring: all markers without prepositional semantic meanings Prepositions: another look PIA scoring for alternative preposition markers and semantic meanings PIA scoring: all markers with alternative preposition scores 5 Conclusion Other obtainable information Total number of markers Future research Appendix References 1 Introduction The Problem One of the goals for any organisation is to carry out its function in as efficient a manner as possible, making the best use of the time, resources, and personnel available. This has been true for SIL International (SIL), whose goal is to make available to as many people as possible the literary development1 materials produced in projects where they have had significant involvement in the production of those materials. SIL is very interested in determining if materials that they produce in one creole language of the Caribbean (or any other region where they work for that matter) can be shared with or adapted to any other territories with a similar creole language. The problem is that the grouping or clustering of the creole languages of the Caribbean, specifically the English-lexifier creoles in this study, has not been given specific enough attention by researchers up to this time. Much of the classificational research of English-lexifier creoles of the Caribbean has either focused mainly or solely on the verbal system or has taken a more sociohistorical rather than linguistic approach. A linguistic approach is necessary in the context of this study to determine the grouping or clustering of languages. It is the specific linguistic structures of grammatical features and the morphemes that are used to mark those features that will be key in determining if written materials in one creole can be shared with or adapted to another. More than just the verbal system markers need to be taken into consideration in order to significantly group these languages linguistically. Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is to develop a tool that can be used to help identify where written materials produced in one Caribbean English-lexifier creole language might be easily shared with or adapted to other similar creole languages. The tool that is needed is one that will linguistically group (i.e., classify) the English-lexifier creole languages of the Caribbean. The tool developed in this study examines and compares the lexical similarity and total number of markers of some key grammatical features of these creole languages and assigns a score to each comparison. The higher the score, the greater the similarity of the lexical items and total number of markers used to mark the grammatical features of each creole language under examination. This is not a measure of intelligibility or a measure of the acceptability of written materials produced in one creole when shared with another. Intelligibility and acceptability can, however, be inferred from this. It should be expected that when there is a greater similarity of lexical items and total number of markers under examination, then there would be a greater degree of intelligibility and a greater potential for written materials produced in one creole language to be acceptable for use by speakers of the other creole language. Thus, this grouping is for the purpose of determining the potential to share or adapt literary development materials. It is not an exact measure. The tool is designed to provide a way to score the potential for the unidirectional sharing and/or adapting of written materials. It is a system for scoring the relative similarity and difference in a selected set of markers of key grammatical features of the creole languages under consideration. Both the concepts of the potential intelligibility of these languages and the potential acceptability of written materials produced when shared with or adapted
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A Sociolinguistic Profile of the Kyoli (Cori) [Cry] Language of Kaduna State, Nigeria
    DigitalResources Electronic Survey Report 2020-012 A Sociolinguistic Profile of the Kyoli (Cori) [cry] Language of Kaduna State, Nigeria Ken Decker, John Muniru, Julius Dabet, Benard Abraham, Jonah Innocent A Sociolinguistic Profile of the Kyoli (Cori) [cry] Language of Kaduna State, Nigeria Ken Decker, John Muniru, Julius Dabet, Benard Abraham, Jonah Innocent SIL International® 2020 SIL Electronic Survey Report 2020-012, October 2020 © 2020 SIL International® All rights reserved Data and materials collected by researchers in an era before documentation of permission was standardized may be included in this publication. SIL makes diligent efforts to identify and acknowledge sources and to obtain appropriate permissions wherever possible, acting in good faith and on the best information available at the time of publication. Abstract This report describes a sociolinguistic survey conducted among the Kyoli-speaking communities in Jaba Local Government Area (LGA), Kaduna State, in central Nigeria. The Ethnologue (Eberhard et al. 2020a) classifies Kyoli [cry] as a Niger-Congo, Atlantic Congo, Volta-Congo, Benue-Congo, Plateau, Western, Northwestern, Hyamic language. During the survey, it was learned that the speakers of the language prefer to spell the name of their language <Kyoli>, which is pronounced as [kjoli] or [çjoli]. They refer to speakers of the language as Kwoli. We estimate that there may be about 7,000 to 8,000 speakers of Kyoli, which is most if not all the ethnic group. The goals of this research included gaining a better understanding of the role of Kyoli and other languages in the lives of the Kwoli people. Our data indicate that Kyoli is used at a sustainable level of orality, EGIDS 6a.
    [Show full text]
  • The Song of Kriol: a Grammar of the Kriol Language of Belize
    The Song of Kriol: A Grammar of the Kriol Language of Belize Ken Decker THE SONG OF KRIOL: A GRAMMAR OF THE KRIOL LANGUAGE OF BELIZE Ken Decker SIL International DIS DA FI WI LANGWIJ Belize Kriol Project This is a publication of the Belize Kriol Project, the language and literacy arm of the National Kriol Council No part of this publication may be altered, and no part may be reproduced in any form without the express permission of the author or of the Belize Kriol Project, with the exception of brief excerpts in articles or reviews or for educational purposes. Please send any comments to: Ken Decker SIL International 7500 West Camp Wisdom Rd. Dallas, TX 75236 e-mail: [email protected] or Belize Kriol Project P.O. Box 2120 Belize City, Belize c/o e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected] Copies of this and other publications of the Belize Kriol Project may be obtained through the publisher or the Bible Society Bookstore 33 Central American Blvd. Belize City, Belize e-mail: [email protected] © Belize Kriol Project 2005 ISBN # 978-976-95215-2-0 First Published 2005 2nd Edition 2009 Electronic Edition 2013 CONTENTS 1. LANGUAGE IN BELIZE ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 AN INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE ........................................................................................................ 1 1.2 DEFINING BELIZE KRIOL AND BELIZE CREOLE ...................................................................................... 2 1.3
    [Show full text]
  • Trini Talk Or the Queen's English?
    Copyright by Sarojani S. Mohammed 2008 The Dissertation Committee for Sarojani S. Mohammed Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Trini Talk or the Queen’s English? Navigating Language Varieties in the Post-Colonial, High Stakes Climate of “Standard Five” Classrooms in Trinidad Committee: Diane L. Schallert, Co-Supervisor Barbara G. Dodd, Co-Supervisor Lars Hinrichs Zena T. Moore Marilla D. Svinicki Brandon K. Vaughn Trini Talk or the Queen’s English? Navigating Language Varieties in the Post-Colonial, High Stakes Climate of “Standard Five” Classrooms in Trinidad by Sarojani S. Mohammed, S.B. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin December, 2008 Dedication To the newest source of inspiration in my life, my nephew, Henrik Åge Lundgård. Acknowledgements In many ways, this document represents the love and support of the village that raised me. I regret that I cannot express my gratitude to every person who has helped me along the way, but I appreciate this opportunity to acknowledge in print those who have devoted inordinate amounts of time and effort to ensure the completion of this degree, and this project in particular. To my parents, who knew that I could do this even before it was a dream of mine, I thank you for your love and patience, help and advice, and especially for your encouragement and support over the past 27 years. To my brother and sister, thanks for making me who I am, and loving me as I am.
    [Show full text]
  • REFLECTIONS on LIFE: CREOLES, the INTERSECTION of MANY PEOPLES Growing up As Little People, My Siblings and I, As Well As Our Re
    REFLECTIONS ON LIFE: CREOLES, THE INTERSECTION OF MANY PEOPLES Growing up as little people, my siblings and I, as well as our relatives, friends and neighbors, sponged up everything around us, unaware that a Creole culture was the atmosphere and environment that we lived, breathed and ingested constantly. It was our father who spoke Cajun, the old French from Canada, and our mother who spoke Creole, the oft-fractured French so dear to all who are part of that culture. A many-splendored culture, it has purloined gems of all kinds from other cultures, in the process of creating its own distinctive jewels unlike any in the world. From rich goodness and talent in every walk of life, we are a flavorful gumbo appetizing to all. With an incredible length and breadth, Creoles span all the color spectrum from deep ebony to dark chocolate to milk chocolate to teasing tan to the ambiguous ivory-complected to sepia to the reddish briqué to high yellow to white. Technically, black is not a color, for it is the absence of visible light. Neither is white a color, for it contains all the wavelengths of visible light. So what is this black/white fuss all about? In any case, most of us are of Afro- Euro-Asian (First American) extraction – quite a bit in addition to what we usually call African American. Seizing upon these broad-based commonalities, confessed Creole Georgina Dhillon from the Seychelles, who later moved to London, had a dream to unite the formidable concentrations of Creoles: Antillean Creole, spoken among 100,000 in Dominica, “The nature isle of the Caribbean”; Antillean Creole, among 100,000 in Grenada; Antillean Creole, among 422,496 in Guadeloupe; French Guiana Creole and Haitian Creole, among 157,277 in French Guiana; Haitian Creole, among 7,000,000 in Haiti; Antillean Creole, among 381,441 in Martinique; Mauritian Creole, among 1,100,000 in Mauritius; Réunion Creole, among 707,758 in Réunion; Antillean Creole, among 150,000 in St.
    [Show full text]
  • The Case of Nominal Plural Marking in Zamboanga Chabacano
    Language Documentation & Conservation Special Publication No. 19 Documentation and Maintenance of Contact Languages from South Asia to East Asia ed. by Mário Pinharanda-Nunes & Hugo C. Cardoso, pp.141–173 http:/nflrc.hawaii.edu/ldc/sp19 4 http://hdl.handle.net/10125/24908 Documenting online writing practices: The case of nominal plural marking in Zamboanga Chabacano Eduardo Tobar Delgado Universidade de Vigo Abstract The emergence of computer-mediated communication has brought about new opportunities for both speakers and researchers of minority or under-described languages. This paper shows how the analysis of spontaneous contemporary language samples from online social networks can make a contribution to the documentation and description of languages like Chabacano, a Spanish-derived creole spoken in the Philippines. More specifically, we focus on nominal plural marking in the Zamboangueño variety, a still imperfectly understood feature, by examining a corpus composed of texts from online sources. The attested combination of innovative and vestigial features requires a close look at the high contact environment, different levels of metalinguistic awareness or even some language ideologies. The findings shed light on the wide variety of plural formation strategies which resulted from the contact of Spanish with Philippine languages. Possible triggers, such as animacy, definiteness or specificity, are also examined and some future research areas suggested. Keywords: nominal plural marking, Zamboangueño Chabacano, number, creole languages Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 142 Eduardo Tobar Delgado 1. Introduction1 Zamboanga Chabacano (also known as Zamboangueño or Chavacano) is one of the three extant varieties of Philippine Creole Spanish or Chabacano and totals around 500,000 speakers in and around Zamboanga City in the Southern Philippines.
    [Show full text]
  • 12 English Dialect Input to the Caribbean
    12 English dialect input to the Caribbean 1 Introduction There is no doubt that in the settlement of the Caribbean area by English speakers and in the rise of varieties of English there, the question of regional British input is of central importance (Rickford 1986; Harris 1986). But equally the two other sources of specific features in anglophone varieties there, early creolisation and independent developments, have been given continued attention by scholars. Opinions are still divided on the relative weight to be accorded to these sources. The purpose of the present chapter is not to offer a description of forms of English in the Caribbean – as this would lie outside the competence of the present author, see Holm (1994) for a resum´ e–b´ ut rather to present the arguments for regional British English input as the historical source of salient features of Caribbean formsofEnglish and consider these arguments in the light of recent research into both English in this region and historical varieties in the British Isles. This is done while explicitly acknowledging the role of West African input to forms of English in this region. This case has been argued eloquently and well, since at least Alleyne (1980) whose views are shared by many creolists, e.g. John Rickford. But the aim of the present volume, and specifically of the present chapter, is to consider overseas varieties of English in the light of possible continuity of input formsofEnglish from the British Isles. This concern does not seek to downplay West African input and general processes of creolisation, which of course need to be specified in detail,1 butrather tries to put the case for English input and so complement other views already available in the field.
    [Show full text]
  • Annex H. Summary of the Early Grade Reading Materials Survey in Senegal
    Annex H. Summary of the Early Grade Reading Materials Survey in Senegal Geography and Demographics 196,722 square Size: kilometers (km2) Population: 14 million (2015) Capital: Dakar Urban: 44% (2015) Administrative 14 regions Divisions: Religion: 95% Muslim 4% Christian 1% Traditional Source: Central Intelligence Agency (2015). Note: Population and percentages are rounded. Literacy Projected 2013 Primary School 2015 Age Population (aged 2.2 million Literacy a a 7–12 years): Rates: Overall Male Female Adult (aged 2013 Primary School 56% 68% 44% 84%, up from 65% in 1999 >15 years) GER:a Youth (aged 2013 Pre-primary School 70% 76% 64% 15%,up from 3% in 1999 15–24 years) GER:a Language: French Mean: 18.4 correct words per minute When: 2009 Oral Reading Fluency: Standard deviation: 20.6 Sample EGRA Where: 11 regions 18% zero scores Resultsb 11% reading with ≥60% Reading comprehension Who: 687 P3 students Comprehension: 52% zero scores Note: EGRA = Early Grade Reading Assessment; GER = Gross Enrollment Rate; P3 = Primary Grade 3. Percentages are rounded. a Source: UNESCO (2015). b Source: Pouezevara et al. (2010). Language Number of Living Languages:a 210 Major Languagesb Estimated Populationc Government Recognized Statusd 202 DERP in Africa—Reading Materials Survey Final Report 47,000 (L1) (2015) French “Official” language 3.9 million (L2) (2013) “National” language Wolof 5.2 million (L1) (2015) de facto largest LWC Pulaar 3.5 million (L1) (2015) “National” language Serer-Sine 1.4 million (L1) (2015) “National” language Maninkakan (i.e., Malinké) 1.3 million (L1) (2015) “National” language Soninke 281,000 (L1) (2015) “National” language Jola-Fonyi (i.e., Diola) 340,000 (L1) “National” language Balant, Bayot, Guñuun, Hassanya, Jalunga, Kanjaad, Laalaa, Mandinka, Manjaaku, “National” languages Mankaañ, Mënik, Ndut, Noon, __ Oniyan, Paloor, and Saafi- Saafi Note: L1 = first language; L2 = second language; LWC = language of wider communication.
    [Show full text]
  • Making Sense of "Bad English"
    MAKING SENSE OF “BAD ENGLISH” Why is it that some ways of using English are considered “good” and others are considered “bad”? Why are certain forms of language termed elegant, eloquent, or refined, whereas others are deemed uneducated, coarse, or inappropriate? Making Sense of “Bad English” is an accessible introduction to attitudes and ideologies towards the use of English in different settings around the world. Outlining how perceptions about what constitutes “good” and “bad” English have been shaped, this book shows how these principles are based on social factors rather than linguistic issues and highlights some of the real-life consequences of these perceptions. Features include: • an overview of attitudes towards English and how they came about, as well as real-life consequences and benefits of using “bad” English; • explicit links between different English language systems, including child’s English, English as a lingua franca, African American English, Singlish, and New Delhi English; • examples taken from classic names in the field of sociolinguistics, including Labov, Trudgill, Baugh, and Lambert, as well as rising stars and more recent cutting-edge research; • links to relevant social parallels, including cultural outputs such as holiday myths, to help readers engage in a new way with the notion of Standard English; • supporting online material for students which features worksheets, links to audio and news files, further examples and discussion questions, and background on key issues from the book. Making Sense of “Bad English” provides an engaging and thought-provoking overview of this topic and is essential reading for any student studying sociolinguistics within a global setting.
    [Show full text]
  • Language Classification in the Ethnologue and Its Consequences (Paper)
    Sarah E. Cornwell The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada Language Classification in The Ethnologue and its Consequences (Paper) Abstract: The Ethnologue is a widely used classificatory standard for the world’s 7000+ natural languages. However, the motives and processes used by The Ethnologue’s governing body, SIL International, have come under criticism by linguists. This paper investigates how The Ethnologue answers the question “What is a language?” through the theoretical lens presented by Bowker and Star in Sorting Things Out (1999) and presents some consequences of those classificatory decisions. 1. Introduction Language is central to human culture and experience. It is the central core of our communicative capacity, running through all media of communication. Due to this essential role, there is a need to classify and count languages and their speakers1. Governments need to communicate with citizens, libraries need to catalogue books by language, and search engines need to return webpages in the appropriate language for each searcher. For these reasons among others, there is a strong institutional need for a standardized classification structure and labelling system for languages. The most widespread current classificatory infrastructure for languages is based on The Ethnologue. This essay will critically evaluate The Ethnologue using the Foucauldian theory developed for investigating classification structures by Bowker and Star (1999) in Sorting Things Out: Classification and its Consequences. 2. The Ethnologue The Ethnologue is a catalogue of all the world’s languages. First compiled in 1951, The Ethnologue is currently in its 20th edition and contains descriptions of 7099 living languages (2017). Since 1997, The Ethnologue has been available freely online and widely accessible (Simons & Fennig, 2017).
    [Show full text]
  • 17 World Englishes and Their Dialect Roots
    Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2020 World Englishes and their dialect roots Schreier, Daniel Abstract: This chapter investigates the persistence and development of so-called dialect roots, that is, features of local forms of British English that are transplanted to overseas territories. It discusses dialect input and the survival of features, independent developments within overseas communities, including realignments of features in the dialect inputs, as well as contact phenomena when English speakers interact with those of other dialects and languages. The diagnostic value of these roots is exemplified with selected cases from around the world (Newfoundland English, Liberian English, Caribbean Englishes), which are assessed with reference to the archaic/dynamic character of individual features in new-dialect formation and language-contact scenarios. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108349406.017 Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-198161 Book Section Published Version The following work is licensed under a Publisher License. Originally published at: Schreier, Daniel (2020). World Englishes and their dialect roots. In: Schreier, Daniel; Hundt, Marianne; Schneider, Edgar W. The Cambridge Handbook of World Englishes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 384-407. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108349406.017 17 World Englishes and Their Dialect Roots Daniel Schreier World Englishes developed out of English dialects spoken throughout the British Isles. These were transported all over the globe by speakers from different regions, social classes, and educational backgrounds, who migrated with distinct trajectories, for various periods of time and in distinct chronolo- gical phases (Hickey, Chapter 2, this volume; Britain, Chapter 7,thisvolume).
    [Show full text]
  • A Discrete Co-Systems Approach to Language Variation on the Panamanian Island of Bastimentos
    University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics Volume 7 Issue 3 Papers from NWAV 29 Article 20 2001 A Discrete Co-Systems Approach to Language Variation on the Panamanian Island of Bastimentos Peter Snow Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl Recommended Citation Snow, Peter (2001) "A Discrete Co-Systems Approach to Language Variation on the Panamanian Island of Bastimentos," University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics: Vol. 7 : Iss. 3 , Article 20. Available at: https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol7/iss3/20 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol7/iss3/20 For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Discrete Co-Systems Approach to Language Variation on the Panamanian Island of Bastimentos This working paper is available in University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics: https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol7/iss3/20 A Discrete Co-Systems Approach to Language Variation on the Panamanian Island of Bastimentos 1 Peter Snow 1 Introduction In its ideal form, the phenomenon of the creole continuum as originally described by DeCamp (1971) and Bickerton (1973) may be understood as a result of the process of decreolization that occurs wherever a creole is in direct contact with its lexifier. This contact between creole languages and the languages that provide the majority of their lexicons leads to synchronic variation in the form of a continuum that reflects the unidirectional process of decreolization. The resulting continuum of varieties ranges from the "basilect" (most markedly creole), through intermediate "mesolectal" varie­ ties (less markedly creole), to the "acrolect" (least markedly creole or the lexifier language itself).
    [Show full text]
  • The Place of Ata in Belizean Kriol
    Encoding Contrast, Inviting Disapproval: The Place of Ata in Belizean Kriol WILLIAM SALMON University of Minnesota, Duluth1 1 Introduction This paper investigates the semantics and pragmatics of the discourse marker ata in Belizean Kriol, as seen in (1). I show that ata is an adversative discourse marker similar to the Spanish discourse marker si, as described in Schwenter (1999, 2002), and that the two share much in terms of syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. This is interesting, as there seems to be no English counterpart to the Kriol ata or Spanish si. (1) A: Wai yu nak yu sista?2 B: Ata da shee nak me fos! [KID] A: Why did you hit your sister? B: (But) it was she who hit me first!3 In terms of ata, I argue that it is used to convey an emphatic contrast with the immediately preceding discourse and that this contrast is a conventional implicature of the type described in Grice (1975). In addition, it is frequently used in conveying negative attitudes toward the preceding discourse. I argue that this is not a conventional aspect of ata’s meaning but that it is instead calculated in context via Gricean pragmatic reasoning as a conversational implicature. Finally, I suggest a diachronic origin for ata in the Kriol focus marker da. This present account of ata, then, covers significantly different ground than the account given in Salmon (to appear). In the next section, which follows from Salmon (to appear), I provide a brief background on the Kriol language as well as a discussion of where and how the data used in this paper were collected.
    [Show full text]