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Part of
Hispanic Linguistics: Current issues and new directions
Edited by Alfonso Morales-Front, Michael J. Ferreira, Ronald P. Leow and Cristina Sanz
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 26] 2020
► pp. 327–342

Casting light on the Spanish creole debate

A legal perspective

| University of Texas at Austin | Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies | Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies | Foro Latinoamericano de Antropología del Derecho

This paper provides a legal perspective on the “Spanish Creole debate”, the debate concerning the paucity of Spanish creoles in the Americas (Lipski 2005; McWhorter 2000). In so doing, it presents the Legal Hypothesis of Creole Genesis (LHCG) (Sessarego 2015, 2017a) and tests it on Colombian Chocó, a remote region, far away from urban centers and legal courts, where law could hardly be enforced during the colonial period.

Keywords: Spanish creole debate, Legal Hypothesis of Creole Genesis, Chocó Spanish
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Key aspects of the Legal Hypothesis of Creole Genesis
  • 3.Aspects of Spanish slave law
  • 4.Law in books vs. law in action
    • 4.1Some comments on black slavery in Spanish America
    • 4.2An analysis of legal praxis in Spanish America
    • 4.3Focus on colonial Chocóocus on colonial Chocó
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 13 May 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.26.16ses
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