Article published in:
Creoles, their Substrates, and Language TypologyEdited by Claire Lefebvre
[Typological Studies in Language 95] 2011
► pp. 127–153
Substrate features in the properties of verbs in three Atlantic creoles
Haitian Creole, Saramaccan and Papiamentu
The aim of this paper is to investigate a subset of the properties of verbs in three Atlantic creoles, Haitian Creole, Saramaccan and Papiamentu – all three created around the same time and sharing the same core substrate languages, but having different lexifier/superstrate languages – and to compare these properties with those of verbs in their contributing languages, that is, their substrate languages, on one hand, and their superstrate languages, on the other. The three-way comparison undertaken in this paper shows in a clear way that first, the properties of verbs in the three creoles often contrast with those of the corresponding verbs in their respective superstrate languages; second, these properties parallel those of the corresponding verbs in their substrate languages; and third, in spite of the fact that the three creoles under investigation have different lexifier languages, the properties of the substrate verbs manifest themselves in the three creoles.
Keywords: English, Fongbe and other West African languages, French, Haitian Creole, Papiamentu, properties of verbs, Saramaccan, Spanish
Published online: 17 February 2011
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.95.09lef
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.95.09lef