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Article published In:
Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages
Vol. 33:2 (2018) ► pp.280–306

Overstanding Idren

Special features of Rasta Talk morphology

| University of Utah

This study examines two distinctive neologistic processes within Rasta Talk. (1) Overstanding is morphological refashioning of a word that replaces morphemes (actual or perceived) which are misaligned with respect to the connotations of the word itself. Thus the word understanding, bearing positive connotations, is repaired by transforming the negatively mis-connotating sub-component under- into over-. (2) Iformation is the targeting of (depending on a word’s structure) either the first syllable or the first segment for replacement by /ai/ or /j/; e.g. ancient and food become I-cient and yood, respectively. These two processes contribute greatly to the salient properties of Rasta Talk, and involve a large degree of complexity which merits detailed scrutiny.

Keywords: Rasta Talk, Jamaica, creole, morphology, I-words, overstandings
Article outline
  • 1.Intro
  • 2.Overstandings
  • 3.I-Words & Iformation
  • 4.Outro
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 19 October 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.00017.sla
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2021. Overstandin: Upscaling reading positions and rescaling texts/signs. Applied Linguistics Review 12:3 ► pp. 445 ff. DOI logo

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