Inheritance and innovation in a colonial language : towards a usage-based account of French Guianese Creole / William Jennings, Stefan Pfänder.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jennings, William (William John) (Lecturer in French), author.

Pfänder, Stefan, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Creole dialects.

Creole dialects, French--French Guiana.

Creole dialects, French.

Linguistic change.

French Guiana.

Physical Description:

xiv, 240 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Cham, Switzerland : Palgrave Macmillan, [2018]

Summary:

This book takes a fresh approach to analysing how new languages are created, combining in-depth colonial history and empirical, usage-based linguistics. Focusing on a rarely studied language, the authors employ this dual methodology to reconstruct how multilingual individuals drew on their perception of Romance and West African languages to form French Guianese Creole. In doing so, they facilitate the application of a usage-based approach to language while simultaneously contributing significantly to the debate on creole origins. This innovative volume is sure to appeal to students and scholars of language history, creolisation and languages in contact.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (page 235) and index.

ISBN:

3319619519

9783319619514

OCLC:

988292473