Cover not available
Part of
Language Contact in Africa and the African Diaspora in the Americas: In honor of John V. Singler
Edited by Cecelia Cutler, Zvjezdana Vrzić and Philipp Angermeyer
[Creole Language Library 53] 2017
► pp. 305–322

Variationist creolistics, with a phonological focus

John Singler is among a relatively small group of variationist creolists who have worked on phonological variation, which, although less of a research focus in creolistics than grammatical variation, can be illuminated by and illuminate quantitative and other systematic approaches to sociolinguistic variation and change. I illustrate this by introducing quantitative data on vowel laxing, h-deletion, and other phonological processes in the personal pronoun system of Guyanese Creole. In each case the quantitative data contribute to decisions about basic vs derived forms, and enrich our understanding of linguistic constraints and the sociolinguistic milieu (social class, gender, age and style) in which the variation is embedded. Phonological variation in pidgins and creoles can in turn enhance our understanding of larger theoretical issues within variation theory and creolistics.

Keywords: Guyanese Creole, phonological variation, quantitative analysis, social class, gender, age
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Vowel laxing
  • 3. h-deletion
  • 4. t-deletion
  • 5.The raising and backing of a
  • 6.Monophthongization of [aɪ]
  • 7.Summary and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 July 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cll.53.13ric
References
Allsopp, R
1958 Pronominal Forms in the Dialect of English Used in Georgetown (British Guiana) and its Environs by Persons Engaged in Non-Clerical Occupations. MA thesis, London University.Google Scholar
Bailey, B
1966 Jamaican Creole Syntax. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Bickerton, D
1973 On the nature of a creole continuum. Language 49(3): 640–699. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1975 Dynamics of a Creole System. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Devonish, H
2002 Talking Rhythm, Stressing Tone: The Role of Prominence in Anglo-West African Creoles. Kingston, Jamaica: Arawak Publications.Google Scholar
Edwards, W
1983 Code selection and shifting in Guyana. Anthropological Linguistics 20(5): 194–213.Google Scholar
Hooper, J
1973 Aspects of natural generative phonology. PhD dissertation, University of California – Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Irvine, A
2004 A good command of the English language: Phonological variation in the Jamaican acrolect. Journal of Pidgin and Creole languages 19(1): 41–76. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Labov, W
1969 Contraction, deletion and inherent variability of the English copula. Language 45(4): 715–762. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1971 The notion of “system” in creole languages. In Pidginization and Creolization of Languages, D. Hymes (ed.), 447–472. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Lacoste, V
2012 Phonological Variation in Rural Jamaican Schools. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rickford, J
1979 Variation in a Creole Continuum: Quantitative and Implicational Approaches. PhD dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
1981 A variable rule for a creole continuum. In Variation Omnibus, D. Sankoff & H. Cedergren (eds), 201–208. Carbondale and Edmonton: Linguistic Research, Inc.Google Scholar
1986 The need for new approaches to social class analysis in sociolinguistics. Language and Communication 6(3): 215–221. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1987 The haves and have nots: Sociolinguistic surveys and the assessment of speaker competence. Language in Society 16(2): 149–177. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1991 Sociolinguistic variation in Cane Walk: A quantitative case study. In English Around The World: Sociolinguistic Perspectives, J. Cheshire (ed.), 609–616. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1993 Phonological features in Afro-American pidgins and creoles and their diachronic significance. In Africanisms in Afro-American Language Varieties, S. Mufwene (ed.), 346–363. Athens GA: University of Georgia Press.Google Scholar
Rosenfelder, I
2008 Sociophonetic Variation in Educated Jamaican English: An Analysis of the Spoken Component of ICE-Jamaica. PhD dissertation, Albert Ludwigs Universität Freiburg.Google Scholar
Sankoff, G
1974 A quantitative paradigm for the study of communicative competence. In Explorations in the Ethnography of Speaking, R. Bauman & J. Sherzer (eds) 18–49. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Sidnell, J
1999 Gender and pronominal variation in an Indo-Guyanese creole-speaking community. Language in Society 28(3): 367–399. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Singler, J
1984 Variation in Tense-Aspect-Modality in Liberian English. PhD dissertation, UCLA.Google Scholar
Tagliamonte, S
2006 Analysing Sociolinguistic Variation. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wolfram, W
1969 A Sociolinguistic Description of Detroit Negro Speech. Washington DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar