The development of tense, mood, and aspect in the creole languages, and the typology of affix order

Creole languages display systems of marking tense, mood and aspect (TAM) that are rather different from what is commonly found in non-creoles, but at the same time highly similar across creoles. In this chapter I will show some of these similarities and differences, and try to explain them with general cognitive principles, focusing on the order of these elements with respect to the verb stem. Further I will discuss the genesis and development of the form of some of these TAM markers from a typological point of view. Finally I will discuss their specific forms of these markers as more or less typical instances of grammaticalization. In creoles, being young languages, it is often easier to trace grammaticalization patterns, and this can help shed light on grammaticalization in general.