A linguistic time-capsule

The present study builds on the work of Lipski (2005a) regarding the nature and scope of Afro-Iberian language. It narrowly focuses on pluralization patterns found in historical texts covering five centuries. The analyses show that the representations of Black speech in Afro-Portuguese examples are consistent with a pattern of plural marking independently verified in comparable creole and semi-creole systems, such as Cape Verdean, Papiamentu, Helvécia and popular varieties of Brazilian Portuguese. Comparatively, the evidence of variation found in earlier Afro-Hispanic texts is less conclusive about the possible contribution of the bozal language to modern-day varieties of Caribbean Spanish. The analyses add to the debate over the prior creolization of non-standard varieties in Latin America.