Deconstructing Creole
Editors
Deconstructing Creole is a collection of studies aimed at critically assessing the idea of creole languages as a homogeneous structural type with shared and peculiar patterns of genesis. Following up on the critical discussion of notions of ‘creole exceptionalism’ as historical and ideological constructs, this volume tests the basic assumptions that underlie current attempts to present ‘creole structure’ as a special type, from typological as well as sociohistorical perspectives. The sum of the findings presented here suggests that careful empirical investigation of input varieties and contact environments can explain the structural output without recourse to an exceptional genesis scenario. Echoing calls to dissolve the notion of ‘creolization’ as a special diachronic process, this volume proposes that theoretically grounded approaches to the notions of simplicity, complexity, transmission, etc. do not warrant considering so-called ‘creole’ languages as a special synchronic type.
[Typological Studies in Language, 73] 2007. xii, 292 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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Acknowledgements | p. xi
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Deconstructing creole: The rationaleUmberto Ansaldo and Stephen Matthews | pp. 1–18
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Part I: Typology and grammar
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Creole morphology revisitedJoseph T. Farquharson | pp. 21–37
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The role of typology in language creation: A descriptive takeEnoch Oladé Aboh and Umberto Ansaldo | pp. 39–66
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Creoles, complexity and associational semanticsDavid Gil | pp. 67–108
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Admixture and after: The Chamic languages and the Creole prototypeAnthony P. Grant | pp. 109–139
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Relexification and pidgin development: The case of Cape Dutch PidginHans den Besten | pp. 141–164
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Part II: Sociohistorical contexts
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Transmission and transferJeff Siegel | pp. 167–201
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The sociolinguistic history of the Peranakans: What it tells us about 'creolization'Umberto Ansaldo, Lisa Lim and Salikoko S. Mufwene | pp. 203–226
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The complexity that really matters: The role of political economy in creole genesisNicholas Faraclas, Don E. Walicek, Mervyn C. Alleyne, Wilfredo Geigel and Luis A. Ortiz López | pp. 227–264
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Creole metaphors in cultural analysisRoxy Harris and Ben Rampton | pp. 265–285
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Index | pp. 287–290
“This book will arouse controversy. [...] the time has come to reexamine, perhaps rethink some of the key notions of creole studies - including the issue of whether there really should be a creole studies - and this book is a landmark on the way to that.”
Mark Sebba, Lancaster University, in Language 85.2, 2009
“It is clear that in a collection like the present, the idea of "deconstruction" in the sense of discovering, recognizing, and understanding the implicit assumptions and frameworks that from the basis for thought and belief can be followed only to a certain extent. Deconstructing Creole is an important volume, however, in that it is one of the first that engages in a much needed metaphorical discourse on Creole Studies. Hopefully this work will trigger further research that explores fuzzy boundaries within the field, raising questions about the age-old binary oppositions that often shape how Creoles are conceptualized. This collection should be a very welcome addition to the library of both scholars working on typological and grammatical issues in Creole Studies and those doing socio-historical research.”
Susanne Mühleisen, University of Bayreuth, in Sargasso 2007 8: 1
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Ansaldo, Umberto
Ansaldo, Umberto
Bakker, Peter
Bakker, Peter
Cruse, Romain
Deumert, Ana
Fernández, Mauro & Eeva M. Sippola
Goldshtein, Yonatan
Haspelmath, Martin & Susanne Maria Michaelis
Jourdan, Christine
Kouwenberg, Silvia & John Victor Singler
Lang, George
Lee, Nala H
Levisen, Carsten, Carol Priestley, Sophie Nicholls & Yonatan Goldshtein
Meakins, Felicity
Mufwene, Salikoko S.
Quentel, Gilles
Saldana, Carmen, Kenny Smith, Simon Kirby & Jennifer Culbertson
Sippola, Eeva M.
Szeto, Pui Yiu, Stephen Matthews & Virginia Yip
Walicek, Don E.
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Subjects & Metadata
BIC Subject: CFF – Historical & comparative linguistics
BISAC Subject: LAN009000 – LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General