Chapter published in:
Language Contact, Continuity and Change in the Genesis of Modern Hebrew
Edited by Edit Doron, Malka Rappaport Hovav, Yael Reshef and Moshe Taube
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 256] 2019
► pp. 287–320

Our creolized tongues

| University of Amsterdam
It is often assumed that creole languages represent ‘exceptional’ language development in which a contact language or a variety largely spoken by late L2 learners nativizes and becomes the main language of a community. It is therefore not uncommon that scholars of contact languages or revitalized languages (e.g., Hebrew) ask whether such languages are creoles or not. The common assumption is that so-called creoles exhibit certain specific linguistic features which distinguish them from other non-creolized languages, and which could be used as a yardstick to evaluate the status of other languages as creoles. But, what if any given language is a creolized form of a pre-existing language spoken by previous generations? In this paper, I argue that language acquisition always happens in a situation of contact comparable to creole contexts, in which learners are faced with heterogeneous inputs and recombine competing linguistic features into new linguistic items. Under this view, all natural languages involve a hybrid grammar. I further discuss how recombination leads to linguistic variation both at the learner’s and population level.
Published online: 18 September 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.256.11abo
References

References

Aboh, Enoch O.
2002 La morphosyntaxe de la péripherie gauche nominale. In La syntaxe de la définitude, Anne Zribi-Hertz & Anne Daladier (eds), Recherches Linguistiques de Vincennes 31: 9–26.Google Scholar
2004 The Morphosyntax of Complement-head Sequences. Word Order Patterns in Kwa. Oxford: OUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2005 Deriving relative and factive constructions in Kwa. In Contributions to the Thirtieth Incontro di Grammatica Generativa, Laura Brugè, Giuliana Giusti, Nicola Munaro, Walter Schweikert & Giuseppina Turano (eds), 265–285. Venice: Libreria Editrice Cafoscarina.Google Scholar
2006 The role of the syntax-semantics interface in language transfer. In L2 Acquisition and Creole Genesis: Dialogues [Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 42], Claire Lefebvre, Lydia White & Christine Jourdan (eds), 221–252. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2007 La genèse de la périphérie gauche du saramaka: Un cas d’influence du substrat? In Grammaires Créoles et Grammaire Comparative, Karl Gadelii & Anne Zribi-Hertz (eds), 73–97. Saint-Denis: Presses Universitaires de Paris.Google Scholar
2009 Competition and selection: That’s all. In Complex Processes in New Languages [Creole Language Library 35], Enoch O. Aboh & Norval Smith (eds), 317–344. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2010 Information Structuring begins with the numeration. IBERIA 2(1): 12–42. http://​www​.siff​.us​.es​/iberia​/index​.php​/ij​/indexGoogle Scholar
2015a The Emergence of Hybrid Grammars: Language Contact and Change. Cambridge: CUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2015b Functional verbs in Gungbe: The case of inherent complement verbs. Linguisticá 10: 9–29.Google Scholar
2016a Creole distinctiveness: A dead end. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 31: 400–418. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2016b Grammaticalization: A population factor. In From Variation to Iconicity. Festschrift for Olga Fischer , Anne Bannink & Wim Honselaar (eds), 1–16. Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Pegasus.Google Scholar
(ed.) 2017 Complexity in Human Languages: A Multifaceted Approach. Language Sciences 60: 1–198. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Forthcoming Pourquoi parlons-nous tous un créole? Le changement linguistique à travers le prisme de la créolistique. In Faits de Langue. http://​fdl​.univ​-lemans​.fr​/fr​/index​.htmlGoogle Scholar
Aboh, Enoch O. & Smith, Norval
2009 Simplicity, simplification, complexity and complexification: Where have the interfaces gone? In Complex Processes in New Languages [Creole Language Library 35], Enoch O. Aboh & Norval Smith (eds), 1–25. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Aboh, Enoch O. & DeGraff, Michel
2014 Some notes on bare noun phrases in Haitian Creole and in Gungbe: A transatlantic Sprachbund perspective. In The Sociolinguistics of Grammar [Studies in Language Companion Series 154], Tor A. Åfarli & Brit Mæhlum (eds), 203–236. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2016 A Null Theory of creole formation based on Universal Grammar. In Handbook of Universal Grammar, Ian Roberts (ed.). Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Ansaldo, Umberto
2009 Contact Languages: Ecology and Evolution in Asia. Cambridge: CUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Arends, Jacques
1989 Syntactic Developments in Sranan. PhD dissertation, University of Nijmegen.Google Scholar
Arends, Jacques, Muysken, Pieter & Smith, Norval
1995 Pidgins and Creoles: An Introduction [Creole Language Library 15]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Atindogbé, Gratien Gualbert & Grollemund, Rebeca
(eds) 2017 Relative Clauses in Cameroonian Languages Structure, Function and Semantics. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Baker, Mark
1985 The Mirror Principle and morphosyntactic explanation. Linguistic Inquiry 16: 373–415.Google Scholar
Bianchi, Valentina
1999 Consequences of Antisymmetry: Headed Relative Clauses. Berlin: Mouton. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2000 The raising analysis of relative clauses: A reply to Borsley. Linguistic Inquiry 31: 123–140. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bickerton, Derek
1981 Roots of Language. Ann Arbor MI: Karoma.Google Scholar
1984 The language bioprogram hypothesis. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 7: 173-221.Google Scholar
1988 Creole languages and the Bioprogram. Linguistics: The Cambridge Survey, Vol. II: Linguistic Theory: Extensions and Implications, Frederick Newmeyer (ed.), 268–284. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
2008 Bastard Tongues: A Trail-blazing Linguist Finds Clues to our Common Humanity in the World’s Lowliest Languages. New York NY: Hill and Wang.Google Scholar
Bloomfield, Leonard
1933 Language. New York NY: H. Holt.Google Scholar
Booij, Geert
2005 The Grammar of Words. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Borer, Hagit
1984 Parametric Syntax: Case Studies in Semitic and Romance Languages. Dordrecht: Foris. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2005 Structuring Sense, Vol. I: In Name Only. Oxford: OUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bybee, Joan L.
1985 Morphology: A Study of the Relation between Meaning and Form [Typological Studies in Language 9]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, Noam
1995 The Minimalist Program. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
2005 Three factors in language design. Linguistic Inquiry 36: 1–22. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cinque, Guglielmo
1996 1996 The “Antisymmetric” Program: Theoretical and typological implications. Journal of Linguistics 32: 447–464. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
1999 Adverbs and Functional Heads. A Cross-linguistic Perspective. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Clark, Robin & Roberts, Ian
1993 A computational model of language learning and language change. Linguistic Inquiry 24: 299–345.Google Scholar
Clark, Robin
1992 The selection of syntactic knowledge. Language Acquisition 2: 83–149. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dahl, Östen
2004 The Growth and Maintenance of Linguistic Complexity [Studies in Language Companion Series 71]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
De Caluwe, Johan
2007 Mogelijke ingredienten van tussentaal. Ms, University of Ghent.Google Scholar
de Vries, Mark
2002 The Syntax of Relativization [LOT 53]. Utrecht: University of Utrecht.Google Scholar
DeGraff, Michel
(ed) 1999 Language Creation and Language Change. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
2001 On the origins of Creole: A Cartesian critique of Neo-Darwinian linguistics. Linguistic Typology 5: 213–310.Google Scholar
2003 Against creole exceptionalism. Language 79: 391–410. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2005 Morphology and word order in “creolization” and beyond. In The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Syntax, Guglielmo Cinque & Richard Kayne (eds), 293–372. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
2009 Language acquisition in creolization (and language change): Some Cartesian uniformitarian boundary conditions. Language and Linguistic Compass 3–4: 888–971. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dostie, Gaétane
2007 La réduplication pragmatique des marqueurs discursifs. De là à là là. Langue Française 154: 45–60. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Embick, David
2015 The Morpheme. A Theoretical Introduction. Berlin: Mouton. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Essegbey, James
1999 Inherent Complement Verbs Revisited: Towards an Understanding of Argument Structure in Ewe [MPI Series]. Wageningen: Ponsen & Looijen.Google Scholar
Foley, William A. & Van Valin Robert D. Jr.
1984 Functional Syntax and Universal Grammar. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Ghyselen, Anne-Sophie
2016 From diglossia to diaglossia: A West Flemish case-study. In The Future of Dialects, Marie-Hélène Côté, Remco Knooihuizen & John Nerbonne (eds), 35–63. Berlin: Language Science Press.Google Scholar
Gibson, Kean
1986 The ordering of auxiliary notions in Guyanese Creole. Language 62: 571–586. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Goad Heather & White, Lydia
2004 Ultimate attainment of L2 inflection. Effects of L1 prosodic structure. In Eurosla Yearbook 4, Susan Foster-Cohen, Mike Sharwood Smith, Antonella Sorace & Mitsuhiko Ota (eds), 119–145. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Haegeman, Liliane
2009 Linguistic variation in Belgium: Dialects and tussentaal. A case study: West Flemish negation. Paper presented at Meertens Institute. http://​www​.gist​.ugent​.be​/members​/lilianehaegeman
Hall, Robert A.
1962 The life cycle of pidgin languages. Lingua 11: 151–156. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Haznedar, Belma & Schwartz, Bonnie D.
1997 Are there optional infinitives in child L2 acquisition? In BUCLD 21: Proceeding of the Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, Elizabeth Hughes, Mary Hughes & Annabel Greenhill (eds), 257–268. Somerville MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Heine, Bernd & Kuteva, Tania
2005 Language Contact and Grammatical Change. Cambridge: CUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hengeveld, Kees
1989 Layers and operators in Functional Grammar. Journal of Linguistics 25: 127–157. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2006 Linguistic typology. In Linguistic Universals, Ricardo Mairal & Juana Gil (eds), 46–66. Cambridge: CUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2012 The grammaticalization of tense and aspect. In The Oxford Handbook of Grammaticalization, Bernd Heine & Heiko Narrog (eds). Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Hulk, Aafke
2000 Non-selective access and activation in child bilingualism. In Cross-linguistic Structures in Simultaneous Bilingualism [Studies in Bilingualism, 21] Susanne Döpke (ed.), 57–78. Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Hulk, Aafke & Müller, Natascha
2000 Bilingual first language acquisition at the interface between syntax and pragmatics. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 3: 227–244. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Huttar, George, Aboh, Enoch O. & Ameka, Felix
2013 Relative clauses in Suriname creoles and Gbe languages. Lingua 129: 96–123. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kayne, Richard
1994 The Antisymmetry of Syntax. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Kraybill, Donald B., Johnson-Weiner, Karen & Nolt, Steven M.
2013 The Amish. Baltimore MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Kroch, Anthony & Taylor, Ann
1997 Verb movement in Old and Middle English: Dialect variation and language contact. In Parameters of Morphosyntactic Change, Ans van Kemenade & Nigel Vincent (eds), 297–325. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Kroch, Anthony
1989 Reflexes of grammar in patterns of language change. Language Variation and Change 1: 199–244. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2001 Syntactic change. In The Handbook of Contemporary Syntactic Theory, Mark Baltin & Chris Collins (eds), 699–729. Malden MA: Blackwell. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kusters C. W.
2003 Linguistic Complexity: The Influence of Social Change on Verbal Inflection. PhD dissertation, University of Leiden. (LOT publications).Google Scholar
Lardiere, Donna
2000 Mapping features to forms in second language acquisition. In Second Language Acquisition and Linguistic Theory, John Archibald (ed.). Malden MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Lightfoot, David
1979 Principles of Diachronic Syntax. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
1999 The Development of Language. Acquisition, Change and Evolution. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Lupyan, Gary & Dale, Rick
2010 Language structure is partly determined by social structure. PLoS ONE 5(1): e8559. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Mchombo, Sam
2001 Effects of head-marking on constituent order in Chichewa. In Proceedings of the LFG 01 Conference, Miriam Butt & Tracy Holloway King (eds), 221–237. Stanford CA: CSLI.Google Scholar
Meisel, Jürgen M.
2011 Bilingual language acquisition and theories of diachronic change: Bilingualism as cause and effect of grammatical change. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 14: 121-145.Google Scholar
Mufwene, Salikoko S.
2001 The Ecology of Language Evolution. Cambridge: CUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2005 Language evolution: The population genetics way. In Genes, Language and their Evolution, Guenther Hauska (ed). Regensburg: Universitätsverlag.Google Scholar
2008 Language Evolution. Contact, Competition and Change. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
2010 SLA and the emergence of creoles. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 32: 359–400. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Muysken, Pieter
1981 Creole tense/mood/aspect systems: The unmarked case? In Generative Studies on Creole Languages, Pieter Muysken (ed.), 181–199. Dordrecht: Foris. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
1988 Are creoles a special type of language? In Linguistics: The Cambridge Survey, Vol. II: Linguistic Theory: Extensions and Implications, Frederick Newmeyer (ed.), 285–301. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
2000 Bilingual Speech: A Typology of Code-mixing. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
2013 Language contact outcomes as the result of bilingual optimization strategies. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 16(4): 709–730. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Nettle, Daniel
1999 Is the rate of linguistic change constant? Lingua 108:119–136. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Niyogi, Partha & Berwick, Robert C.
1995 The Logical Problem of Language Change. A.I. Memo No. 1516, C.B.C.L. Paper No. 115: 1–18. MIT, MA: Cambridge.Google Scholar
Pelleprat, P.
1655([1965]) Relation des missions des pères de la Compagnie de Jésus dans les iles et dans la terre ferme de l’Amérique méridionale. Paris: Cramoisy. Span. ed. Relato de las misiones de los padres de la compañía de Jesús en las islas y en tierra firme de América meridional. Caracas: Fuentes para la Historia Colonial de Venezuela.Google Scholar
Prévost, Philippe & White, Lydia
2000 Missing surface inflection or impairment in second language acquisition? Evidence from tense and agreement. Second Language Research 16/2:103–133. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Price, Richard
2008 Travels with Tooy. History, Memory, and the African American Imagination. Chicago IL: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Rizzi, Luigi
1997 The fine structure of the Left Periphery. In Elements of Grammar, Liliane Haegeman (ed.), 281–337. Dordrecht: Kluwer. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Roeper, Thomas
1999 Universal bilingualism. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 2(3): 169–186. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Rountree, S. Catherine
1992 Saramaccan Grammar Sketch [Languages of the Guianas 8]. Paramaribo: Summer Institute of Linguistics.Google Scholar
Schuchardt, Hugo
1914 Die Sprache der Saramakkaneger in Surinam. Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam. Afdeeling Letterkunde, n.s. 14(6). Amsterdam: Johannes Müller.Google Scholar
Sebregts, Koen D. C. J.
2015 The Sociophonetics and Phonology of Dutch r. Utrecht: LOT Dissertation Series.Google Scholar
Seifart, Frank
2015 Direct and indirect affix borrowing. Language 91(3): 511–532. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Siegel, Jeff
2008 The Emergence of Pidgins and Creoles. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Smith, Norval
1987 The Genesis of the Creole Languages of Surinam. PhD dissertation, University of Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Sorace, Antonella
2005 Selective optionality in language development. In Syntax and Variation. Reconciling the Biological and the Social [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 265], Leonie Cornips & Karen P. Corrigan (eds), 55–80. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Spears, Arthur K. & Winford, Donald
(ed.) 1997 The Structure and Status of Pidgins and Creoles [Creole Language Library 19]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Trudgill, Peter
2011 Sociolinguistic Typology: Social Determinants of Linguistic Complexity. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Tsimpli, Ianthi M. & Sorace, Antonella
2006 Differentiating interfaces: L2 performance in syntax semantics and syntax-discourse phenomena. In BUCLD 30: Proceedings of the 30th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, Vol. 2, David Bamman, Tatiana Magnitskaia & Colleen Zaller (eds), 653–664. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Van der Vate, M.
2011 Tense, Aspect and Modality in a Radical Creole: The Case of Saamáka. PhD dissertation, University of Tromsoe.Google Scholar
Veenstra, Tonjes
1996 Serial verbs in Saramaccan: Predication and Creole genesis [HIL Dissertations 17]. The Hague: HAG.Google Scholar
de Vries, Mark
2002 The Syntax of Relativization. Utrecht: LOT Dissertation Series.Google Scholar
Walkden, George
2017 Language contact and V3 in Germanic varieties new and old. Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 20: 49–81. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Weerman, Fred
2003 Nominative-dative inversion and the decline of Dutch. Germania et alia: A Linguistic Webschrift for Hans den Besten. http://​odur​.let​.rug​.nl​/~koster​/DenBesten​/contents​.htmGoogle Scholar
2011 Diachronic change: Early versus late acquisition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 14: 149–151. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Vellupilai, Viveka
2015 Pidgins, Creoles and Mixed Languages: An Introduction [Creole Language Library 48]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Wallenberg, Joel
2016 Extraposition is disappearing. Language 92: 237–256. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Wexler, Kenneth
1998 Very early parameter setting and the unique checking constraint: A new explanation of the optimal infinitive stage. Lingua 106: 23–79. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Wichmann, Sören & Holman, Eric W.
2009 Population size and rates of language change. Special issue on Demography and Cultural Macroevolution 81. http://​digitalcommons​.wayne​.edu​/humbiol​/vol81​/iss2​/8 Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 3 other publications

No author info given
2021.  In Pre-Historical Language Contact in Peruvian Amazonia [Contact Language Library, 58], Crossref logo
Aboh, Enoch O.
2020. Lessons From Neuro-(a)-Typical Brains: Universal Multilingualism, Code-Mixing, Recombination, and Executive Functions. Frontiers in Psychology 11 Crossref logo
Enoch O. Aboh & Cécile B. Vigouroux
2021.  In Variation Rolls the Dice [Contact Language Library, 59], Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 17 september 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.