Constraints on Structual Borrowing in a Multilingual Contact Situation
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University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons IRCS Technical Reports Series Institute for Research in Cognitive Science 5-1-2005 Constraints on Structual Borrowing in a Multilingual Contact Situation Tara S. Sanchez University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/ircs_reports Part of the Linguistics Commons Sanchez, Tara S., "Constraints on Structual Borrowing in a Multilingual Contact Situation" (2005). IRCS Technical Reports Series. 4. https://repository.upenn.edu/ircs_reports/4 University of Pennsylvania Institute for Research in Cognitive Science Technical Report No. IRCS-05-01 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/ircs_reports/4 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Constraints on Structual Borrowing in a Multilingual Contact Situation Abstract Many principles of structural borrowing have been proposed, all under qualitative theories. Some argue that linguistic conditions must be met for borrowing to occur (‘universals’); others argue that aspects of the socio-demographic situation are more relevant than linguistic considerations (e.g. Thomason and Kaufman 1988). This dissertation evaluates the roles of both linguistic and social factors in structural borrowing from a quantitative, variationist perspective via a diachronic and ethnographic examination of the language contact situation on Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, where the berian creole, Papiamentu, is in contact with Spanish, Dutch, and English. Data are fro m texts (n=171) and sociolinguistic interviews (n=129). The progressive, the passive construction, and focus fronting are examined. In addition, variationist methods were applied in a novel way to the system of verbal morphology. The degree to which borrowed morphemes are integrated into Papiamentu was noted at several samplings over a 100-year time span. Census reports provide social and demographic information for each sampling point. In this way, the relationship of social and demographic changes to contact-induced changes in a linguistic subsystem was evaluated. Some ‘universals’ of structural borrowing are shown to have merit, such as ‘structural compatibility’. Only one non-linguistic factor was significant, and implicates indirectly that the longer speakers are bilingual, the more likely they are to borrow verbal morphology. However, observed changes in, for example, ‘amount and degree of bilingualism’ were not correlated with increased integration of foreign forms. Well-integrated foreign forms may become sensitive to social factors, and behave like any other sociolinguistic variable, except that factors specific ot the language contact situation operate as well. This study is one of the first ot use quantitative methods to evaluate principles of structural borrowing. The findings contribute ot our understanding of the long-term consequences of language contact. Disciplines Linguistics Comments University of Pennsylvania Institute for Research in Cognitive Science Technical Report No. IRCS-05-01 This thesis or dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/ircs_reports/4 CONSTRAINTS ON STRUCTURAL BORROWING IN A MULTILINGUAL CONTACT SITUATION Tara Savannah Sanchez A DISSERTATION in Linguistics Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2005 _______________________________ ______________________________ Gillian Sankoff, Supervisor of Dissertation Ellen Prince, Committee Member _______________________________ ______________________________ Eugene Buckley, Graduate Group Chairperson Rolf Noyer, Committee Member COPYRIGHT Tara Savannah Sanchez 2005 iii For Diana iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people contributed to the completion of this project. First and foremost, I’d like to thank my advisor, Gillian Sankoff. I first became interested in Papiamentu during Gillian’s Pidgins and Creoles class. I only planned to make a five minute ‘language sketch’ for our class, but it turned into a term paper, which turned into a Master’s thesis, which turned into this dissertation and what I hope will be a lifelong connection with Papiamentu and its speakers. Aside from initiating my interest in this language and in the field of language contact, Gillian guided me every step of the way through this dissertation in the best way possible—she somehow makes me see what needs to be done without telling me directly. At the time I think I’m making my own decisions, and in a way I am, but it hindsight, I see that I made them because Gillian taught me so well early on that I already know what advice she would give before she gives it. Another significant contributor to this dissertation and to my graduate education is Ellen Prince. I took her classes at just the right time to be in a position to apply her language contact studies to my own work. I also credit her with introducing me to the work of Carmen Silva-Corvalán, which has influenced me greatly. Penn’s faculty and students, and indeed the entire field, will miss her after she retires this year. The third member of my committee is Rolf Noyer, and without him, I doubt I would have made it to graduate school. He was my professor and thesis advisor in my undergraduate days at Brown, and his presence at Penn was a major factor in my decision to apply to Penn in the first place. All of the Penn faculty are wonderful, but I’d especially like to thank Bill Labov and Tony Kroch. I took many of Bill’s classes and enjoyed them all. This dissertation is clearly influenced by his ideas on language variation. Tony always pushed me to achieve more, and for this I am grateful. Many colleagues have made comments on various stages of this research. I am grateful for the input (and support) of Richard Cameron, Liz Dayton, Gregory Guy, Carol Klee, Siliva Kouwenberg, John Lipski, Miriam Meyerhoff, Naomi Nagy, Dennis Preston, audiences of NWAVE, SPCL, LSA, Spanish in Contact, the Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, the Penn Linguistics Colloquium and others. My teaching assistants at Michigan State University, Danny Flynn, Steve Johnson, and Walter Sistrunk, made it possible for me to finish up while teaching this spring. I’d also like to thank Sarah Benor, Hsiang-Hua Chang, Jeff Conn, Uri Horesh, Thomas Morton, Jaclyn Ocumpaugh, Rebecca Roeder, Suzanne Evans Wagner, Tonya Wolford (go Sanford!), all the students in my graduate seminar on pidginization and creolization, who have contributed more than they know, and the wonderful faculty, staff, and students at Michigan State University, whose welcome, friendship, and support have been anything but “Spartan”. I am extremely grateful to the National Science Foundation for a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement grant (#0236758). This support made it possible for me to conduct extended fieldwork in the Caribbean with the best possible equipment. Amy Forsyth, Maureen Miller, and Cecile McKee were most helpful with administrative matters. Above all, however, no part of this project would have been possible without the tremendous support of Antillean Papiamentu speakers. There are no words to thank people v who took in a virtual stranger from a strange land, introduced her to family and friends, helped her find strangers to fill out cells in a sample table, ensured her safety, corrected her grammar without laughing at her mistakes (except for the most absurd ones), and at the same time showed her all the wonderful things their islands have to offer. There are no words, so here I simply say, “Thank you”, and I know they will only smile and say, “Semper na bo òrdu.” I’m at their service, too. Some of the people who went above and beyond the call of duty are Franklin ‘Boi’ Antoine, Lucille Berry-Haseth, Iris Castillo, Albertina de Lange, Jasmina de Lange, Alan de Rooy, Nagib de Rooy, Janella Diaz, Mario Dijkhoff, Nydia Ecury, Lorna El-Mondalek and all her dushis, Cecilia El-Mondalek, Mimi Hardeveld, Swinda “Gina” Henriquez, Sydney and Debbie Joubert, Stanley and Ingrid Kemp, the Lucor/Vis Family, Leo Maduro, Abdallah Moghrabi, Gina Paula, Rayza and Rudy Perrotte, Gibi Pourier, Luis Rack, Dennis Rosario, Sylvio ‘Chio’ Semeleer, Estefanita Tromp, Ito Tromp, Esther Van Breedt and family, Grayson Viceisza, Muzaninn Weber, Gibi Winklaar, Ruth Willems (semper lo mi ta bo ‘merikano’), Alejandro, Benito, Diana, Dirksa, Johnny, Natalie, Simona, Theresa, Miguel and Patricia, Curaçao Car Rental, Deals on Wheels, Maduro and Curiel’s Bank, UPS Aruba, the 132 Antilleans who agreed to be interviewed, and many others who helped me find the right people to interview. Also, I appreciate the helpful assistance of librarians on Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire, and the staff of the National Archives in Curaçao. Finally, I’d like to thank my many friends and family members who supported me during the long road from A.B. to Ph.D. Thanks especially to Victor for, among many other things, getting a haircut at just the right time to meet Natalie, a Papiamentu speaker in Lindenwold, NJ, who led me to an amazing network of Antilleans. Thanks to my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Thanks also to Lady for helping Victor through my fieldwork, and Melanie to helping me through the rest. vi ABSTRACT CONSTRAINTS ON STRUCTURAL BORROWING IN A MULTILINGUAL CONTACT SITUATION Tara Sanchez Gillian Sankoff, advisor Many principles of structural borrowing have been proposed, all under qualitative theories. Some argue that linguistic conditions