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Article published In:
Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages
Vol. 30:1 (2015) ► pp.116–141

Competences in contact

Phonology and lexifier targeted change

| University of California, Davis
This article examines phonological changes brought about by creole-lexifier contact, with secondary focus on the distinction of these changes from those occurring in creole formation. It is argued that lexifier-targeted change involves declarative competence: knowledge of what is and isn’t part of a phonological inventory. It is further argued that such changes do not undo the past, but involve historically innovative modifications to grammatical competence, which subsequently inform productive and perceptual knowledge. A formal account of Guadeloupian vowel data is proposed, which also addresses differential outcomes such as instances of apparent hypercorrection.
Keywords: phonology, contact, grammatical models, French Lexifier Creoles, decreolization
Published online: 9 April 2015
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.30.1.04rus
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