Chapter 13
Cognitive creolistics and semantic primes
A phylogenetic network analysis
This study presents a semantics-driven lexical comparison of 20 creole languages and five European lexifier languages. Breaking new ground into understanding creole semantics, it utilizes insights from both cognitive semantics (in particular, the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach) and phylogenetic approaches to linguistics comparisons. We provide an extensive study of label-meaning correlations as a way of exploring the relationship between word labels and word meanings across creoles and lexifiers. We conclude that creoles are not simply “versions” of their lexifier languages, and that it is misleading to say that creoles are “based” on European languages in their basic lexical-semantic configuration. At the same time, we find that creoles do relate more closely to their historical lexifiers than to other creoles, and that the lexical-semantic perspective adds a new dimension to the typology of creoles, nuancing the pictures from grammar-based comparisons.
Article outline
- 13.1Introduction
- 13.2Exponents of semantic primes across creole languages
- 13.3Character coding and phylogenetic algorithm
- 13.4Results
- 13.5Discussion
-
13.6Concluding remarks
-
Acknowledgments
-
Notes
-
References
For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.
References
Aboh, E. O., Veenstra, T. & Smith, N. S. H.
2013 Saramaccan structure dataset. In
Michaelis et al. (eds).

Alleyne, M.
2014 A reformist approach to the creole concept. Keynote speech at the Aruba SCL/SPCL/ACBLPE conference 2014, Aruba.

Baker, P. & Kriegel, S.
2013 Mauritian Creole structure dataset. In
Michaelis et al. (eds).

Bakker, P., Daval-Markussen, A., Parkvall, M. & Plag, I.
Baptista, M.
2013 Cape Verdean Creole of Brava structure dataset. In
Michaelis et al. (eds).

Bartens, A.
2013 Nicaraguan Creole English structure dataset. In
Michaelis et al. (eds).

Bartens, A. & Sandström, N.
2006 Semantic primes in Atlantic Iberomance-based creoles: Superstrate continuity or innovation? Estudios de Sociolinguística 7 (1): 31–54.

Bible Society of The West Indies
2012 Di Jamiekan nyuu testiment. Kingston: Bible Society of The West Indies.

Blench, R.
2005 A Dictionary of Nigerian English.
[URL] (31 May 2015)
Bowern, C.
2008 Linguistic Fieldwork: A Practical Guide. New York NY: Palgrave Macmillan.


Bryant, D. & Moulton, V.
2004 Neighbor-Net: An agglomerative algorithm for the construction of phylogenetic networks.
Molecular Biology and Evolution 21(2): 255–65.


Bromhead, H.
2009 The Reign of Truth and Faith: Epistemic Expressions in 16th and 17th Century English. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.


Bromhead, H.
2011 Ethnogeographical categories in English and Pitjantjatjara/Yankunjtjatjara.
Language Sciences 33(1): 58–75.


Chang, L.
2014 Biesik Jumiekan: Introduction to Jamaican Language. Washington DC: Gnosophia.

Comrie, B. & Smith, N.
1977 Lingua descriptive series questionnaire.
Lingua 42: 1–72.


Crowley, T.
1990 Beach-la-Mar to Bislama: The Emergence of a National Language in Vanuatu. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

DeGraff, M.
2001 The origins of creoles: A Cartesian critique of Neo-Darwinian Linguistics.
Linguistic Typology 5: 213–310.

DeGraff, M.
2005 Linguists’ most dangerous myth. The fallacy of creole exceptionalism.
Language in Society 34: 533–591.


den Besten, H. & Biberauer, T.
2013 Afrikaans structure dataset. In
Michaelis et al. (eds).

de Jong, J. P. B. de Josselin
1926 Het huidige Negerhollandsch (Texten en woordenlijst). Amsterdam: Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam.

Ehrhart, S. & Revis, M.
2013 Tayo structure dataset. In
Michaelis et al. (eds).

Enfield, N. J.
2015 The Utility of Meaning: What Words Mean and Why. Oxford: OUP.

Faraclas. N.
1996 Nigerian Pidgin. London: Routledge.


Faraclas, N.
2013 Nigerian Pidgin structure dataset. In
Michaelis et al. (eds).


Fattier, D.
2013 Haitian Creole structure dataset. In
Michaelis et al. (eds).

Farquharson, J. T.
2013 Jamaican structure dataset. In
Michaelis et al. (eds).

Goddard, C. & Wierzbicka, A.
Goddard, C. & Wierzbicka, A.
(eds) 2002 Meaning and Universal Grammar: Theory and Empirical Findings, Vols. 1–2 [
Studies in Language Companion Series 60–61]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Goddard, C. & Wierzbicka, A.
2014a:
Words and Meanings: Lexical Semantics across Domains, Languages, and Cultures. Oxford: OUP.

Goddard, C. & Wierzbicka, A.
Goilo, E. R.
1972 Papiamentu Textbook. Aruba: De Wit Stores.

Grant, A. & Guillemin, D.
Hagemeijer, T.
2013 Santome structure dataset. In
Michaelis et al. (eds).

Hancock, I. F.
1985 Diversity and development in English-related Creoles. Ann Arbor MI: Karoma.

Holm, J.
2001 The semicreole identity of Afrikaans lects: Parallel cases of partial restructuring.
Journal of Germanic Linguistics 13(4): 353–379.

Hualde, J. I. & Schwegler, A.
Kouwenberg, S. S.
1994 A Grammar of Berbice Dutch Creole. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.


Kouwenberg, S. S.
2013a Berbice Dutch structure dataset. In
Michaelis et al. (eds).

Kouwenberg, S. S.
2013b Papiamentu structure dataset. In
Michaelis et al. (eds).

Kouwenberg, S. S. & Murray, E.
1994 Papiamentu. Munich: Lincom.

Levinson, S. C., Meira, S.
& the Language and Cognition Group
2003 ‘Natural concepts’ in the spatial topological domain – adpositional meanings in cross-linguistic perspective: an exercise in semantic typology.
Language 79(3): 485–516.


Levisen, C.
2015 Scandinavian semantics and the human body: an ethnolinguistic study in diversity and change.
Language Sciences 49: 51–66.


Levisen, C. & Priestley, C.
Levisen, C., Sippola, E. & Aragón, K.
2016 Color and visuality in Iberoromance creoles. In
Color Language and Color Categorization.
G. Paulsen,
M. Uusküla &
J. Brindle (eds), 270–301. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.

Majid, A., Enfield, N. J. & van Staden, M.
2006 Parts of the body: Cross-linguistic categorization.
Language Sciences 28: 137–147.


Majid, A., Jordan F. & Dunn, M.
2015 Semantic systems in closely related languages.
Language Sciences 49: 1–18.


Matisoff, J.
2004 Areal semantics – is there such a thing? In
Himalayan Languages: Past and Present,
Anju Saxena (ed.), 347–394. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.


McWhorter, J.
2001 The world’s simplest grammars are creole grammars.
Linguistic Typology 5 (2–3): 125–166.


McWhorter, J.
2011 Linguistic Simplicity and Complexity: Why do Languages Undress. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.


McWhorter, J. & Good, J.
2012 A Grammar of Saramaccan Creole. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.


Michaelis, S. M., Maurer, P., Haspelmath, M. & Huber, M.
(eds) 2013 Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures Online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

Mühleisen, S.
2013 Trinidad English Creole structure dataset. In
Michaelis et al. (eds).

Neumann, I.
1985 Le créole de Breaux Bridge, Louisiane: Etude morphosyntaxique – textes – vocabulaire. Hamburg: Buske.

Neumann-Holzschuh, I. & Klingler, T. A.
2013 Louisiana Creole structure dataset. In
Michaelis et al. (eds).

Nicholls, S.
2013 Cultural scripts, social cognition and social interaction in Roper Kriol.
Australian Journal of Linguistics 33: 282–301.


Priestley, C.
2012 Koromu temporal expressions. In
Space and Time in Languages and Cultures: Language, Culture and Cognition [
Human Cognitive Processing 36],
L. Filipovic &
K. Jaszczolt (eds), 143–166. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.


Priestley, C.
2013 Social categories, shared experience, reciprocity and endangered meanings: Examples from Koromu (PNG).
Australian Journal of Linguistics 33: 257–281.


Robertson, I. E.
1989 Berbice and Skepi Dutch: A lexical comparison.
Tijdschrift voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde 105: 3–21.

Sabino, R.
2012 Giving Jack his Jacket – Language Contact in the Danish West Indies. Leiden: Brill.


Schwegler, A.
2013 Palenquero structure dataset. In
Michaelis et al. (eds).

Stanwood, R. E.
1997 The primitive syntax of mental predicates in Hawai’i Creole English: A text-based study.
Language Sciences 19(3): 209–217.


Stanwood, R. E.
1999 On the Adequacy of Hawai’i Creole English. PhD dissertation, University of Hawai’i.

Swadesh, M.
1971 The Origin and Diversification of Language,
J. Sherzer (ed.). Chicago IL: Aldine.

Travis, C.
2005 Discourse Markers in Columbian Spanish: A Study in Polysemy. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

van Rossem, C. & van der Voort, H.
1996 Die Creol Taal: 250 years of Negerhollands texts. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.


Velupillai, V.
2013 Hawai‘i Creole structure dataset. In
Michaelis et al. (eds).

Wierzbicka, A.
2006 English: Meaning and Culture. Oxford: OUP.


Wierzbicka, A.
2007 Bodies and their parts: An NSM approach to semantic typology.
Language Sciences 29(1): 14–65.


Wierzbicka, A.
2013 Imprisoned in English. The Hazards of English as the Default Language. Oxford: OUP.

Winer, L.
1993 Trinidad and Tobago [
Varieties of English around the World T6]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.


Winer, L.
2009 Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Winford, D. & Plag, I.
2013 Sranan structure dataset. In
Michaelis et al. (eds).


Wolf, H. G. & Polzenhagen, F.
2009 World Englishes: A Cognitive Sociolinguistic Approach. Berlin: De Gruyer Mouton.


Cited by
Cited by 1 other publications
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 september 2023. 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.