John H. McWhorter

McWhorter, John H. 2023 Review of Saad (2020): Variation and change in Abui: The impact of Alor Malay on an indigenous language of Indonesia Language Contact with Chinese, Bao, Zhiming (ed.), pp. 198–201 | Review

McWhorter, John H. 2020 Chapter 11. Concluding reflections Austronesian Undressed: How and why languages become isolating, Gil, David and Antoinette Schapper (eds.), pp. 483–506 | Chapter

McWhorter, John H. 2019 Contact languages: A comprehensive guide . Edited by Peter Bakker and Yaron Matras Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 34:1, pp. 171–177 | Review

McWhorter, John H. 2019 The radically isolating languages of Flores: A challenge to diachronic theory Journal of Historical Linguistics 9:2, pp. 177–207 | Article

The languages of central Flores are all but devoid of affixation, despite that this is hardly typical of the Austronesian languages of their family, including closely related languages elsewhere on the island and nearby ones. A traditional approach to these central Flores languages’ typology is… read more

McWhorter, John H. 2018 Functional categories in three Atlantic creoles: Saramaccan, Haitian and Papiamentu. By Claire Lefebvre Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 33:1, pp. 212–215 | Review

McWhorter, John H. 2016 Is radical analyticity normal: Implications of Niger-Congo and Southeast Asia for typology and diachronic theory Cyclical Change Continued, Gelderen, Elly van (ed.), pp. 49–92 | Article

It is assumed among linguists that radical analyticity is a typological state that a language might develop into as the result of ordinary stepwise grammatical change. It is well-known that extensive second-language acquisition tends to make languages more, or even completely, analytic. Contact,… read more

McWhorter, John H. 2014 A response to Mufwene Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 29:1, pp. 172–176 | Article

McWhorter, John H. 2013 Review of Kouwenberg & Singler (2008): The handbook of pidgin and creole studies Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 28:2, pp. 441–445 | Review

McWhorter, John H. 2013 Review of Miller (2012): External influences on English: From its beginnings to the Renaissance Diachronica 30:4, pp. 593–598 | Review

McWhorter, John H. 2013 It’s not over: Why it matters whether there is a such thing as a creole Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 28:2, pp. 409–423 | Article

McWhorter, John H. 2013 Why noncompositional derivation isn’t boring: A second try on the ‘other’ part of the Creole prototype hypothesis Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 28:1, pp. 167–179 | Article

McWhorter, John H. 2013 Language Turned Off? The legacy of the bioprogram hypothesis Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 28:1, pp. 131–136 | Article

McWhorter, John H. 2012 Review of Siegel (2008): The Emergence of pidgin and creole languages Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 27:2, pp. 389–393 | Review

McWhorter, John H. 2012 Case closed? Testing the feature pool hypothesis Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 27:1, pp. 171–182 | Article

McWhorter, John H. 2012 The Nature of Argument: Is the Creole Exceptionalism Hypothesis Dead? Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 27:2, pp. 377–387 | Article

McWhorter, John H. 2011 Tying up loose ends: The Creole Prototype after all Diachronica 28:1, pp. 82–117 | Article

Since the introduction of the Creole Prototype hypothesis in 1998, much of the controversy it has occasioned has centered on a question as to whether it is scientifically appropriate to reconstruct creoles as born as pidgins, rather than as results of only moderately transformational… read more

McWhorter, John H. 2008 Hither and thither in Saramaccan Creole Studies in Language 32:1, pp. 163–195 | Article

Manhattan Institute read more

McWhorter, John H. 2008 Deconstructing Creole Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 23:2, pp. 289–306 | Article

McWhorter, John H. 2008 Review of Tryon & Charpentier (2004): Pacific pidgins and creoles: Origins, growth and development Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 23:2, pp. 345–350 | Review

McWhorter, John H. 2008 Why does a language undress? Strange cases in Indonesia Language Complexity: Typology, contact, change, Miestamo, Matti, Kaius Sinnemäki and Fred Karlsson (eds.), pp. 167–190 | Article

I have argued in various presentations that it is inherent to natural grammars to maintain a considerable level of complexity over time: simplifications occur, but are counterbalanced by complexifications due to grammaticalization, reanalysis, and new patterns created by phonetic erosion. I argue… read more

McWhorter, John H. 2008 Reply to Lefebvre Studies in Language 32:1, pp. 207–209 | Article

McWhorter, John H. 2006 Creole transplantation: A source of solutions to resistant anomalies History, Society and Variation: In honor of Albert Valdman, Clements, J. Clancy, Thomas A. Klingler, Deborah Piston-Hatlen and Kevin J. Rottet (eds.), pp. 103–133 | Article

McWhorter, John H. 2006 What the creolist learns from Cantonese and Kabardian Diachronica 23:1, pp. 143–184 | Article

McWhorter, John H. 2005 Review of Abraham & Conradie (2001): Präteritumschwund und Diskursgrammatik Studies in Language 29:3, pp. 734–738 | Review

McWhorter, John H. 2005 Review of Smith & Veenstra (2001): Creolization and Contact Studies in Language 29:3, pp. 729–734 | Review

McWhorter, John H. 2005 Review of Lefebvre (2004): Issues in the study of pidgin and creole languages Creole Language in Creole Literatures, Mühleisen, Susanne (ed.), pp. 211–218 | Review

McWhorter, John H. 2004 Saramaccan and Haitian as young grammars: The pitfalls of syntactocentrism in Creole genesis research Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 19:1, pp. 77–137 | Article

McWhorter, John H. 2002 The rest of the story: Restoring pidginization to creole genesis theory Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 17:1, pp. 1–48 | Article

McWhorter, John H. 2002 Book notice: “Historical Linguistics 1999: Selected Papers from the 14th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Vancouver, 9–13 August 1999” by Laurel Brinton Studies in Language 26:3, pp. 735–736 | Miscellaneous

McWhorter, John H. 2002 What happened to English? Diachronica 19:2, pp. 217–272 | Article

Summary It has become widely accepted that English has undergone no interruption in transmission, its paucity of inflection treated as a random loss paralleled in Scandinavian. This paper argues that English has in fact lost more of the Proto-Germanic inheritance than any other Germanic language… read more

McWhorter, John H. 2000 Review of Perl & Schwegler (1998): América negra: Panorámica actual de los estudios lingüísticos sobre variedades hispanas, portuguesas y criollas Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 15:2, pp. 355–359 | Review

McWhorter, John H. 2000 Defining “creole” as a synchronic term Degrees of Restructuring in Creole Languages, Neumann-Holzschuh, Ingrid and Edgar W. Schneider (eds.), pp. 85 ff. | Article

McWhorter, John H. 2000 Review article:Strange bedfellows: Recovering the origins of Black English Diachronica 17:2, pp. 389–432 | Review article

McWhorter, John H. 1999 John McWhorter in response to Derek Bickerton Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 14:1, pp. 215–216 | Miscellaneous

McWhorter, John H. 1999 Review of Guy, Feagin, Baugh & Schiffrin (1996): Towards a social science of language. Papers in honor of William Labov. Volume I. Variation and change in language and society Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 14:1, pp. 143–147 | Review

McWhorter, John H. 1999 Skeletons in the Closet: Anomalies in the Behavior of the Saramaccan Copula Creole Genesis, Attitudes and Discourse: Studies celebrating Charlene J. Sato, Rickford, John R. and Suzanne Romaine (eds.), pp. 121 ff. | Article

McWhorter, John H. 1998 The Heart of the Issue: Input Deprivation Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 13:1, pp. 208–210 | Miscellaneous

McWhorter, John H. 1997 Lost in transmission: A case for the independent emergence of the copula in Atlantic creoles The Structure and Status of Pidgins and Creoles: Including selected papers from meetings of the Society for Pidgin and Creole linguistics, Spears, Arthur K. and Donald Winford (eds.), pp. 241 ff. | Article

McWhorter, John H. 1997 It Happened at Cormantin: Locating the Origin of the Atlantic English-Based Creoles Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 12:1, pp. 59–102 | Article

Comparative and sociohistorical facts suggest that Sranan arose among castle slaves on the Gold Coast in the 1630s. Jamaican Maroon Spirit Language is an offshoot of early Sranan, which allows the deduction that créole English had developed in Suriname by 1671. However, during the English hegemony… read more

McWhorter, John H. 1996 The Diachrony of Predicate Negation in Saramaccan Creole: Synchronic and Typological Implications Studies in Language 20:2, pp. 275–301 | Article

Unlike most Caribbean English-based creoles, Saramaccan has two predicate negator allomorphs, á and ná. While aspects of their distribution suggest that the former is simply a phonologically eroded reflex of the latter, synchronic, diachronic, and comparative evidence indicate that á actually… read more

McWhorter, John H. 1996 John H. McWhorter Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 11:1, pp. 180–183 | Miscellaneous

McWhorter, John H. 1996 Review of Arends, Muysken & Smith (1995): Pidgins and creoles: An introduction Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 11:1, pp. 145–151 | Review

McWhorter, John H. 1995 Sisters Under the Skin: A Case for Genetic Relationship Between the Atlantic English-Based Creoles Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 10:2, pp. 289–333 | Article

This paper shows that the Atlantic English-based Creoles share six features which are derivable neither from superstratal, substratal, nor universal influences, and therefore constitute idiosyncratic correspondences. The six features indicate that these Creoles all derive from a single ancestor of… read more

McWhorter, John H. 1994 Rejoinder to Derek Bickerton Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 9:1, pp. 79–93 | Reply

McWhorter, John H. 1993 Review of Joseph & Zwicky (1990): When verbs collide: Papers from the 1990 Ohio State Mini-Conference on Serial Verbs Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 8:2, pp. 310–314 | Review

McWhorter, John H. 1992 Substratal Influence in Saramaccan Serial Verb Constructions Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 7:1, pp. 1–53 | Article

Bickerton's bioprogram hypothesis uses serial verbs as a primary demonstration that Saramaccan represents the closest approximation to Universal Grammar extant, judging from the fact that speakers of mutually unintelligible West African languages formulated it with little contact with European… read more

McWhorter, John H. 1992 NI and the Copula System in Swahili: A Diachronic Approach Diachronica 9:1, pp. 15–46 | Article

SUMMARY The copula in present-day Swahili is primarily expressed with the non-variant item ni in all persons. Historical documents show that the copula situation was markedly different as recently as two centuries ago. There was a full verb -li "to be" which was used only with locative sentences,… read more

Journal

Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages (JPCL)

Edited by Bettina Migge and Anthony P. Grant

Title

Language Change and Language Contact in Pidgins and Creoles

Edited by John H. McWhorter

Articles