Traces of superstrate verb inflection in Makista and other Asian-Portuguese creoles

The Makista (Macau Creole Portuguese) verb paradigm contains two types of verbs derived from the indicative mood of the superstrate: those which do not represent superstrate functions and those which bear functional superstrate inflectional morphology of the simple present, the past perfective and the past imperfective. The distribution of inflection with superstrate functions, however, is inconsistent throughout the three existent corpora of Makista. Such inflectional morphology is not found in Makista’s immediate predecessor – Kristang, or Malacca Creole Portuguese. However it is found among the Indo-Portuguese creoles of Diu, Daman and Korlai. The chapter argues that diachronic differences in the Makista verb paradigm indicate the incorporation of inflectional morphology through a late-stage second language acquisition process occurring during decreolization. This view contrasts with the account proposed by Luís (2008) to explain the presence of inflectional morphology in the Indo-Portuguese Creoles via an early stage second language acquisition process based on a Post-basic Variety.