Announcements  Bender guest lecture POSTPONED till March 9 (final day)  Today: Pidgins and Creoles  Friday 3/2: Historical Lx 1  Monday 3/5: Historical Lx 2  Wednesday 3/7: Final Exam Discussion and Review  Friday 3/9: Computational Lx (Bender)

Today  Language contact  Pidgins and creoles Readings:

Language contact  Situation in which groups of speakers of different languages come into contact with one another, e.g., geography conquest trade

Language Contact--Outcomes What happens when cultures with different languages come into contact? A. Widespread bilingualism (usually with code- switching) B. Selection of a lingua franca: Any language used to enable communication between groups of people with differing native languages. (natural or constructed languages) Two possible strategies: (1) Employ an already existing language a. natural (e.g., Swahili, English) b. artificial (e.g., Esperanto) (2) Form new language…

Terminology  Adstrates: languages in contact that have equal prestige AdstrateAdstrate English Norse  Superstrate: language of dominant group  Lexifier language: the input language that provided most of the basic vocabulary or lexicon. (aka "superstrate")  Substrate: language of the less dominant or subordinate group. Typically provides most of the phonological, and usually, grammatical features. Superstrate Substrate EnglishNative Am. Langs.

Borrowing  Phonological: [x]: yecch [Z]: prestige  Lexical (loanwords): French: ballet, captain, chivalry, fiancé Spanish: adobe, cigar, mosquito, rodeo  Calques (loan translations): French: ‘it goes without saying’ (il va sans dire) Canton Pidgin English: no-go, look-see, no can do, long time no see, chop-chop

Pidgin  One type of lingua franca. A language which arises to fulfill restricted and ongoing needs for communication among people who have no common language.  Often arises when there is a long-term need to communicate (i.e., in trade/business) e.g., Chinook Jargon  Not the primary language of their speakers (i.e., learned as 2 nd lang)

Structural features of a PIDGIN x no strict word order  single set of pronouns x no complex sentences x no determiners x no grammatical gender x no inflectional morphology  plurals: noun + 3 rd person pronoun Allows either word order: Mi bammy eat. Mi eat bammy. “I eat the cassava.”

Structure of a pidgin  A mix of elements from all the languages in contact (usu. vocabulary from superstrate, structure from substrate(s))  Simplified, with little standard pronunciation, vocabulary, or grammar

Lexicon  Small lexicon, meanings extended [stik]  ‘stick’, ‘tree’ [gras]  ‘grass’, ‘hair’ (i.e., gras bilong head)  Use of compounds to form new words cow baby  ‘calf’ dog baby  ‘puppy’

Phonology  Simplified consonant clusters ‘strong’ [tr ç ŋ] Cameroonian Pidgin ‘dust’ [d ç s]  ‘Stopping’ of fricatives ‘think’ [tiŋk] Tok Pisin ‘they’ [deɪ] ‘find’ [painim]

Morphology  Absence of inflectional morphology ‘wings’[wiŋ] Cameroonian Pidgin ‘thinks’[tiŋk]  Use of reduplication to avoid homonymy, to indicate plural ‘sun’[san] Korean Bamboo Eng. ‘sand’[sansan] ‘pigs’[pikipiki] Solomons Pidgin Eng.

Creole  A language that comes about by prolonged use and nativization, usually arising when parents transmit a pidgin to their children, and the pidgin becomes the child's native language. This language undergoes rapid expansion because it must meet all the communicative needs of the native speaker.  Often arises from a pidgin that is adopted as first/native language

Structural differences: Ps vs. Cs x tolerates extensive grammatical variation  single set of pronouns x complex sentences x no determiners x no grammatical gender x no inflectional morphology  plurals: noun + 3 rd person pronoun  strict word order  single set of pronouns  complex sentences  determiners x no grammatical gender  inflectional morphology  plurals: noun + 3 rd person pronoun PidginsCreoles Jamaican Creole: only one word order is allowed: Mi a-go tel shi se mi waa nyam di bammy. 1sg FUT tell 3sg COMP 1sg want eat DET cassava. “I will tell her that I want to eat the cassava.”

Emergence of Pidgins and Creoles PIDGINCREOLE Arises from:suddenaccelerated disruptionlanguage change language contactparental (2 or more)transmission need is long-termneed is but restrictedcomprehensive not a first languagefirst language Characteristics:no frillsfully developed system chaotic structurestable derivative1 + 1 = 3??

Structure of a creole  Have fully-formed, stable grammars  Many creoles show remarkable structural similarities

How have Pidgins and Creoles Gotten their Names? Chinese Pidgin English Cameroon Pidgin English (Cameroon, W. Africa) Louisiana Creole French (Louisiana, USA) Berbice Creole Dutch (Berbice County, Guyana) Nauru Chinese Pidgin English (Nauru, New Zealand) Bombay Creole Portuguese (Maharastra, India) Jamaican Creole (Jamaica, West Indies) Tok Pisin (Papua New Guinea) Sranan (Suriname) Afrikaans (South Africa) Samaná (Dominican Republic) Bislama (Vanuatu) Kreyól (Haiti) location type lexifier

Distribution of Lexifier Languages Q: How many creole languages are there in the world? A: ~100 (spoken natively by ~6 million people) Q: What languages have combined to form the superstrate for creole languages in the world? A: English--35African languages--17French--15 Portuguese--14Spanish--7German--6 Amerindian--6Dutch--5Arabic--4 Italian--3Russian--2

Jamaican Creole Sociolinguistics dialects form a “post-creole continuum”: basilect: A fi-mi buk dat. mesolect 1: A mi buk dat. mesolect 2: Is my book dat. acrolect: That's my book. A truu in a taak. A trut shi taakin. Is trut shi taakin. She's telling the truth. phonology only phonology, morphology, lexicon, and syntax A = Copula verb “to be”

Continuum examples Check out the real situation Nation war against nation Where did it all begin Where will it end Well it seems like total destruction No real solution And there ain’t no use No one can stop them now There ain’t no use Nobody can stop us now Give them an inch... Slam bam, tank yu maam Cab, an a di nuu yut-dem a demand a gran slam Stitchie and di girl-dem cab service Girl pickni bruok out ina dis Listen dis, Hiir mi nuo, come Mi cab a-come, sii mi cab a-come bwai Han go dung a mek i cab slow dung Mi cab a-come, sii mi cab a-come close An di cyab-man hafi draw dung Drive mi guud ya, man How yu a drive mi so long… Bob Marley, “Real Situation”Lieutenant Stitchie, “The Cab”

Continuum examples Bob Marley, “Real Situation” Check out the real situation Nation warø against nation Where did it all begin Where will it end Well it seems like total destruction No real solution And there ain’t no use No one can stop them now There ain’t no use Nobody can stop us now Give them an inch... Lieutenant Stitchie, “The Cab” Slam bam, tank yu maam Cab, an a di nuu yut-dem a demand a gran slam Stitchie and di girl-dem cab service Girl pickni bruok out ina dis Listen dis, Hiir mi nuo, come Mi cab a-come, sii mi cab a-come bwai Han go dung a mek i cab slow dung Mi cab a-come, sii mi cab a-come close An di cyab-man hafi draw dung Drive mi guud ya, man How yu a drive mi so long…

Jamaican Creole Semantics Processes affecting word meanings (=lexical semantics) -- items derived from the input languages * considerations regarding time of contact -- novel lexical forms Semantic changes: 1. Extension: Reference or sense of a word broadens. Frequently the result of generalizing from a specific case to the class of which the case is a member e.g. OE docga-- formerly one breed of dog; now, all dogs (ME “dog”) JC bakra-- Ewe “European person”; all caucasian people 2. Reduction: Reference or sense of a word narrows. e.g. JC Patois-- Fr “any regional dialect”; now, name for Jamaican Creole

Jamaican Creole Semantics, cont. Semantic changes, cont.: 3. Elevation: word takes on more positive, grander connotations e.g. MidE chivalrous-- formerly warlike; now, honorable, courteous, fair 4. Degradation (pejoration): word takes on more negative, punitive connotations e.g. JC njam [nJam]-- Ewe “eat”; now, an animal’s manner of eating Naa njam unu dina. “Don’t gobble your food.” Coinages (=formation of new words) 1.Rastafarian “i-words”: [ajdZ®En] “children”, [aj®i˘] “fabulous” 2.JC -- djinal [dZinal] “corrupt, thief” 3.JC -- fenke-fenke [feNke feNke] “puny, common”

Jamaican Creole Phonology Contrastive Vowel length: The length of the vowel is a basis for contrast in meaning: English minimal pair:bit beat Jamaican minimal pair:[bit] [biit]

Jamaican Creole Morphology Plural Formation: Plural nouns are formed by combining an unmarked noun with 3 rd plural pronoun "dem" (definites only) definiteindefinite Englishthe doga dog the dogssome dogs Jamaicandi dagwan dag di dag-demplenti dag *plenti dag+dem

Jamaican Creole Syntax Word order and tense: Verbs are conjugated using an "aspectual" system using preverbal markers, i.e., separate words placed before the verb stem (uninflected form) to show relative time. English: talk + -s, -ed, -ing in taakpresent (s/he talks) in taaksimple past (s/he talked) in a taakprogressive (s/he is talking, gives talks) in ben taakanterior (s/he had talked) in da taakhabitual (s/he gives talks) in dida taaknonpunctual (s/he was talking) in wi taakirrealis (s/he will talk) (“anterior” is similar to past tense; “irrealis” refers to the future, conditional and subjunctive; “nonpunctual” refers to ongoing [past] actions)

Hawaiian Creole (super: Eng.) Sranan (super: Eng.) Haitian Creole (super: French) ‘he walked/s’He walkA wakaLi maché ‘he had walked’He bin walkA ben wakaLi té maché ‘he would/will walk’ He go walkA sa wakaL’av maché ‘he is/was walking’ He stay walkA e wakaL’ap maché ‘he would have walked’ He bin go walkA ben sa wakaLi t’av maché ‘he has/had been walking’ He bin stay walk A ben e wakaLi t’ap maché ‘he will/would be walking’ He go stay walkA sa e wakaL’av ap maché ‘he would have been walking’ He bin go stay walk A ben sa e waka Li t’av ap maché Tense in other Creoles

Evidence of West African Retentions in Jamaican Creole  Topicalization: Fronting of a phrase (NP, AP, or VP) for emphasis. Jamaican: A drop it drop."It really fell." Twi: Hwe na Kwasi hwe ase."Kwasi really fell/had a bad fall." Fall+is K fell+down Yoruba: Gbigbe ni won gbe e lo. "They took it away" Take+ is they take+it+go  Compound Nouns: Jamaican:Eye water"tears" Mandinka (general):Nye yi"tears" Eye water

 Derek Bickerton: These structural similarities are due to linguistic ‘bioprogram’ (i.e., Universal Grammar) Evidence: Nicaraguan Sign Language ‘creole’

Significance of Creoles for Linguistic Theory Similarities between creole languages provides insight into linguistic universals. Are there default parameters for human languages? Understanding the structures of pidgin languages is helping researchers to better consider what it means to say that two languages are “alike”, or that a language is “simple”. Comparison of the linguistic structures of pidgins and creoles to their parent languages may help researchers to understand processes involved in second language learning. Study of the morphology, syntax and phonology of creole languages helps researchers to understand the extent to which languages can be “mixed”.