Origins of a Creole : the history of Papiamentu and its African ties / by Bart Jacobs.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jacobs, Bart, 1979-

Series:

Language contact and bilingualism ; 3.

Language contact and bilingualism, 2190-698X ; 3

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Papiamentu language--History.

Papiamentu language.

Papiamentu language--Etymology.

Creole dialects--Caribbean Area.

Creole dialects.

Creole dialects--Africa, West.

Language and education--Caribbean Area.

Language and education.

Sociolinguistics--Caribbean Area.

Sociolinguistics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (402 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; Boston : De Gruyter Mouton, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This study embarks on the intriguing quest for the origins of the Caribbean creole language Papiamentu. In the literature on the issue, widely diverging hypotheses have been advanced, but scholars have not come close to a consensus. The present study casts new and long-lasting light on the issue, putting forward compelling interdisciplinary evidence that Papiamentu is genetically related to the Portuguese-based creoles of the Cape Verde Islands, Guinea-Bissau, and Casamance (Senegal). Following the trans-Atlantic transfer of native speakers to Curaçao in the latter half of the 17th century, the Portuguese-based proto-variety underwent a far-reaching process of relexification towards Spanish, affecting the basic vocabulary while leaving intact the original phonology, morphology, and syntax. Papiamentu is thus shown to constitute a case of 'language contact reduplicated' in that a creole underwent a second significant restructuring process (relexification). These explicit claims and their rigorous underpinning will set standards for both the study of Papiamentu and creole studies at large and will be received with great interest in the wider field of contact linguistics.

Contents:

Front matter

Acknowledgements

Contents

Abbreviations

Introduction

Chapter 1. Critical review of the literature on the origins of Papiamentu

Chapter 2. Phonology

Chapter 3. Selected parts of speech

Chapter 4. Morphology

Chapter 5. Verbal system

Chapter 6. Summary and interim analysis of the linguistic results

Chapter 7. The historical ties between Upper Guinea and Curaçao

Chapter 8. Discussion:The development from Upper Guinea PC to Papiamentu

Chapter 9. Conclusions

Appendices

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781283857970

1283857979

9781614511076

1614511071

9781614511106

1614511101

OCLC:

796384272