Cover not available

In:Language Contact in Africa and the African Diaspora in the Americas: In honor of John V. Singler
Edited by Cecelia Cutler, Zvjezdana Vrzić and Philipp Angermeyer
[Creole Language Library 53] 2017
► pp. 79–100

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

The sociohistorical matrix of creolization and the role children played in this process

Published online: 12 July 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/cll.53.04kou
This paper will take as its starting point Singler’s views on the role of children in creole genesis, which include the idea that children are regularizers rather than innovators, that they may have contributed lexifier properties, and that their potential as contributors to creole genesis is greatest at the time of a colony’s transition to sugar monoculture. I will consider the relevance of these ideas for an account of the development of Berbice Dutch, a creole lexified by Dutch and Eastern Ịjọ, now extinct. I will argue that children were mainly responsible for its development, that the early introduction of sugar assisted their role, and that children may have innovated mixed structures partially modelled on both the lexifier and the substrate.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Early colonial Berbice
  • 3.African continuities in Berbice Dutch: Lexical evidence
  • 4.The sociohistorical matrix of creolization
  • 5.The roles of adults and children in abrupt creolization
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (58)
References
Alleyne, M. 1971. Acculturation and the cultural matrix of creolization. In Pidginization and Creolization of Languages, D. Hymes (ed.), 169–186. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1980. Comparative Afro-American: An Historical-Comparative Study of English-Based Afro-American Dialects of the New World. Ann Arbor MI: Karoma.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Arends, J. 2008. A demographic perspective on creole formation. In The Handbook of Pidgin and Creole Studies, S. Kouwenberg & J. Singler (eds), 309–331. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Arends, J., Kouwenberg, S. & Smith, N. 1995. Theories focusing on the non-European input. In Pidgins and Creoles. An Introduction [Creole Language Library 15], J. Arends, P. Muysken & N. Smith (eds), 99–109. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baker, P. 1990. Off target? Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 5(1): 107–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1993. Assessing the African contribution to French-based creoles. In Africanisms in Afro-American Language Varieties, S. S. Mufwene (ed.), 123–155. Athens GA: University of Georgia Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2012. Interpreting the findings. In Bartens & Baker (eds), 273–286.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bakker, P. 2008. Pidgins vs. creoles and pidgincreoles. In The Handbook of Pidgin and Creole Studies, S. Kouwenberg & J. Singler (eds), 130–157. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bartens, A. & Baker, P. (eds). 2012. Black through White. African Words and Calques which Survived Slavery in Creoles and Transplanted European Languages. London: Battlebridge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Becker, A. & Veenstra, T. 2003. The survival of inflectional morphology in French-related creoles: The role of SLA processes. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 25(2): 283–306. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bruyn, A. 1995. Grammaticalization in Creoles: The Development of Determiners and Relative Clauses in Sranan. Amsterdam: IFOTT.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1996. On identifying instances of grammaticalization in creole languages. In Changing Meanings, Changing Functions. Papers Relating to Grammaticalization in Contact Languages, P. Baker & A. Syea (eds), 29–46. London: University of Westminster Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2008. Grammaticalization in pidgins and creoles. In The Handbook of Pidgin and Creole Studies, S. Kouwenberg & J. Singler (eds), 385–410. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chaudenson, R. 2001. Creolization of Language and Culture, revised in collaboration with Salikoko Mufwene. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Emmer, P. & Klooster, W. 1999. The Dutch Atlantic, 1600–1800: Expansion without empire. Itinerario – European Journal of Overseas History 23(2): 48–69.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Farquharson, J. 2012. The African Lexis in Jamaican: Its Linguistic and Sociohistorical Significance. PhD dissertation, University of the West Indies.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Holm, J. 1988. Pidgins and Creoles, Vol. 1: Theory and Structure. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hulsman, L. 2009. Nederlands Amazonia: Handel met Indianen tussen, 1580–1680. PhD dissertation, University of Amsterdam.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jenewari, C. 1977. Studies in Kalaḅarị Syntax. PhD dissertation, University of Ibadan.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jourdan, C. 2008. The cultural in pidgin genesis. In The Handbook of Pidgin and Creole Studies, S. Kouwenberg & J. Singler (eds), 358–381. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Knörr, J. 2010. Contemporary creoleness; or, the world in pidginization? Current Anthropology 51(6): 731–758. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kouwenberg, S. 1992. From OV to VO. Linguistic negotiation in the development of Berbice Dutch Creole. Lingua 88(3–4): 263–299. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1994. A Grammar of Berbice Dutch Creole. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2001. Convergence and explanation in creole genesis. In Creolisation and Contact [Creole Language Library 23], N. Smith & T. Veenstra (eds), 219–247. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2009. The invisible hand in creole genesis: Reanalysis in the formation of Berbice Dutch. In Complex Processes in New Languages [Creole Language Library 35], E. Aboh & N. Smith (eds), 115–158. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2012. The Ịjọ derived lexicon of Berbice Dutch Creole: An a-typical case of African lexical influence. In Bartens & Baker (eds), 135–153.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013. The historical context of creole language emergence in Dutch Guiana. Revue Belge de Philologie et d’Histoire/ Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Filologie en Geschiedenis 91: 695–711. Special issue Dutch and Colonial Expansion: Different Contact Settings, Different Linguistic Outcomes, G. Stell (ed.).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015a. Dutch Guiana: Demographics and living conditions and the emergence of Dutch creoles during the first one hundred years, 1580–1675. Journal of Language Contact 8(1): 70–90. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015b. Early morphology in Berbice Dutch and source language access in creolisation. Word Structure 8(2): 138–159. Special issue: Rethinking Creole Morphology, A. Luis (ed.). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kramer, K. 1991. Plantation development in Berbice from 1753 to 1779: The shift from the interior to the coast. New West Indian Guide 65(1–2): 51–65. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mufwene, S. 2008. Language Evolution. Contact, Competition and Change. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mühlhäusler, P. 1986. Pidgin & Creole Linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Muysken, P. 2015. Relexification, and other language contact scenarios for explaining substrate effects. In Surviving the Middle Passage: The West Africa-Surinam Sprachbund, P. Muysken & N. Smith (eds), 107–132. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Muysken, P. & Smith, N. (eds). 2015. Surviving the Middle Passage: The West Africa-Surinam Sprachbund. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Postma, J. 1990. The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1600–1815. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roberts, S. 2000. Nativization and the genesis of Hawaiian Creole. In Language Change and Language Contact in Pidgins and Creoles [Creole Language Library 21], J. McWhorter (ed.), 257–300. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sankoff, G. 1979. The genesis of a language. In The Genesis of Language, K. Hill (ed.), 23–47. Ann Arbor MI: Karoma.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Siegel, J. 1997. Mixing, leveling and pidgin/creole development. In The Structure and Status of Pidgins and Creoles [Creole Language Library 19], A. Spears & D. Winford (eds), 111–149. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2008a. In praise of the cafeteria principle: Language mixing in Hawai‘i Creole. In Roots of Creole Structure: Weighing the Contribution of Substrates and Superstrates [Creole Language Library 33], S. Michaelis (ed.), 59–82. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2008b. The Emergence of Pidgin & Creole Languages. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Singler, J. 1995. The demographics of creole genesis in the Caribbean: A comparison of Martinique and Haiti. In The Early Stages of Creolization [Creole Language Library 13], J. Arends (ed.), 203–232. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2006a. Children and creole genesis. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 21(1): 157–173. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2006b. Yes, but not in the Caribbean. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 21(2): 337–358. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2008. The sociohistorical context of creole genesis. In The Handbook of Pidgin and Creole Studies, S. Kouwenberg & J. Singler (eds), 332–358. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Smith, N. 2001. Voodoo Chile: Differential substrate effects in Saramaccan and Haitian. In Creolization and Contact [Creole Language Library 23], T. Veenstra & N. Smith (eds), 43–80. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015a. A preliminary list of probable Kikongo (KiKoongo) lexical items in the Surinam creoles. In Surviving the Middle Passage: The West Africa-Surinam Sprachbund, P. Muysken & N. Smith (eds), 417–462. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015b. A preliminary list of probable Gbe lexical items in the Surinam creoles. In Surviving the Middle Passage: The West Africa-Surinam Sprachbund, P. Muysken & N. Smith (eds), 463–475. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015c. The early history of Surinam: Why is Surinam different? In Surviving the Middle Passage: The West Africa-Surinam Sprachbund, P. Muysken & N. Smith (eds),17–42. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Smith, N., Robertson, I. & Williamson, K. 1987. The Ịjọ element in Berbice Dutch. Language in Society 16(1): 49–90. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thomason, S. & Kaufman, T. 1988. Language Contact, Creolization and Genetic Linguistics. Berkeley CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van Berkel, A. 2014[1695]. Voyage to River Berbice [English translation of Amerikaansche Voyagien naar Rio de Berbice]. In The Voyages of Adriaan van Berkel to Guiana: Amerindian-Dutch Relationships in 17th-Century Guyana, M. Van den Bel, L. Hulsman & L. Wagenaar (eds), 76–138. Leiden: Sidestone Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van den Bel, M., Hulsman, L. & Wagenaar, L. (eds). 2014. The Voyages of Adriaan van Berkel to Guiana: Amerindian-Dutch Relationships in 17th-Century Guyana. Leiden: Sidestone Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van den Berg, M., Muysken, P. & Smith, N. 2015. Introduction: Creole studies and contact linguistics. In Surviving the Middle Passage: The West Africa-Surinam Sprachbund, P. Muysken & N. Smith (eds), 1–14. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Veenstra, T. 2006. Modeling creole genesis: Headedness in morphology. In Structure and Variation in Language Contact [Creole Language Library 29], A. Deumert & S. Durrleman (eds), 61–84. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Williamson, K. 1965. A Grammar of the Kolokuma Dialect of Ịjọ. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. n.d. Comparative Ijoid Wordlist. <[URL]>
Winford, D. 2008. Atlantic creole syntax. In The Handbook of Pidgin and Creole Studies, S. Kouwenberg & J. Singler (eds), 19–47. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yakpo, K. & Bruyn, A. 2015. Trans-Atlantic patterns: The relexification of locative constructions in Sranan. In Surviving the Middle Passage: The West Africa-Surinam Sprachbund, P. Muysken & N. Smith (eds), 135–174. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Jourdan, Christine
2021. Pidgins and Creoles: Debates and Issues. Annual Review of Anthropology 50:1 ► pp. 363 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 8 december 2025. 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.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue