L2 Acquisition and Creole Genesis


Book Description

In this volume, second language (L2) acquisition researchers and creolists engage in a dialogue, focusing on processes at work in L2 acquisition and creole genesis. The volume opens with an overview of the relationship between L2 acquisition and pidgins/creoles (Siegel). The first group of papers addresses current language contact at a societal or an individual level (Smith; Terrill and Dunn; Bruhn de Garavito and Atoche; Liceras et al.; Muller). The second section focuses on processes characterizing various stages of L2 acquisition and creole genesis: relexification and transfer from the L1 and their role in the initial state (Sprouse; Schwartz; Kouwenberg; Aboh; Ionin). Chapters in the third section discuss processes involved in developing grammars, namely, reanalysis and restructuring (Sanchez; Brousseau and Nikiema; Steele and Brousseau). The final section concentrates on fossilization and the end state (Cornips and Hulk; Montrul; Lardiere). Between them, the chapters cover lexical, morphological, phonological, semantic and syntactic properties of interlanguage grammars and creole grammars.




Creole Genesis and the Acquisition of Grammar


Book Description

This study focuses on the cognitive processes involved in creole genesis: relexification, reanalysis, and direct leveling. The role of these processes is documented by a detailed comparison of Haitian creole with its two major contributing languages, French and Fongbe, to illustrate how mechanisms from source languages show themselves in creole. The author examines the input of adult, as opposed to child, speakers and resolves the problems in the three main approaches, universalist, superstratist and substratist, which have been central to the recent debate on creole development.




Creole Genesis and the Acquisition of Grammar


Book Description

An examination of creole genesis, showing how mechanisms from source languages show themselves in creole.




Language, Culture, and Society


Book Description

Language, our primary tool of thought and perception, is at the heart of who we are as individuals. Languages are constantly changing, sometimes into entirely new varieties of speech, leading to subtle differences in how we present ourselves to others. This revealing account brings together eleven leading specialists from the fields of linguistics, anthropology, philosophy and psychology, to explore the fascinating relationship between language, culture, and social interaction. A range of major questions are discussed: How does language influence our perception of the world? How do new languages emerge? How do children learn to use language appropriately? What factors determine language choice in bi- and multilingual communities? How far does language contribute to the formation of our personalities? And finally, in what ways does language make us human? Language, Culture and Society will be essential reading for all those interested in language and its crucial role in our social lives.




Creoles, Their Substrates, and Language Typology


Book Description

Since creole languages draw their properties from both their substrate and superstrate sources, the typological classification of creoles has long been a major issue for creolists, typologists, and linguists in general. Several contradictory proposals have been put forward in the literature. For example, creole languages typologically pair with their superstrate languages (Chaudenson 2003), with their substrate languages (Lefebvre 1998), or even, creole languages are alike (Bickerton 1984) such that they constitute a definable typological class (McWhorter 1998). This book contains 25 chapters bearing on detailed comparisons of some 30 creoles and their substrate languages. As the substrate languages of these creoles are typologically different, the detailed investigation of substrate features in the creoles leads to a particular answer to the question of how creoles should be classified typologically. The bulk of the data show that creoles reproduce the typological features of their substrate languages. This argues that creoles cannot be claimed to constitute a definable typological class."




The Emergence of Pidgin and Creole Languages


Book Description

This book examines the emergence of pidgins and creoles and the controversies surrounding current theories about them. Among the questions considered are why their grammars are simple, at the pidgin-creole-postcreole life cycle, and the causes of grammatical innovation. The analysis is supported with detailed examples and case studies.




Relabeling in Language Genesis


Book Description

In this book, Claire Lefebrve offers a coherent picture of research on relabeling over the last 15 years, and replies to the questions that have been directed at the relabeling-based theory of creole genesis presented in Lefebvre (1998) and related work.




The Creole Debate


Book Description

A compelling argument for why creoles are their own unique entity, which have developed independently of other processes of language development and change.




Substrata Versus Universals in Creole Genesis


Book Description

Two of the most prominent hypotheses about why the structures of the Creole languages of the Atlantic and the Pacific differ are the universalist and he substrate hypotheses. The universalist hypothesis claims, essentially, that the particular grammatical properties of Creole languages directly reflect universal aspects of the human language capacity, and thus Creole genesis involves, then, the stripping away of the accretions of language history. The substrate hypothesis claims, on the other hand, that creole genesis results from the confrontation of two systems, the native languages of the colonized groups, and the dominant colonial language, and that the native language leaves strong traces in the resulting Creole. The contributions of this ground breaking collection present new and historical research on the old debate of substrata versus universals in Creole languages.




The Routledge Encyclopedia of Second Language Acquisition


Book Description

The Routledge Encyclopedia of Second Language Acquisition offers a user-friendly, authoritative survey of terms and constructs that are important to understanding research in second language acquisition (SLA) and its applications. The Encyclopedia is designed for use as a reference tool by students, researchers, teachers and professionals with an interest in SLA. The Encyclopedia has the following features: • 252 alphabetized entries written in an accessible style, including cross references to other related entries in the Encyclopedia and suggestions for further reading • Among these, 9 survey entries that cover the foundational areas of SLA in detail: Development in SLA, Discourse and Pragmatics in SLA, Individual Differences in SLA, Instructed SLA, Language and the Lexicon in SLA, Measuring and Researching SLA, Psycholingustics of SLA, Social and Sociocultural Approaches to SLA, Theoretical Constructs in SLA. • The rest of the entries cover all the major subdisciplines, methodologies and concepts of SLA, from “Accommodation” to the “ZISA project.” Written by an international team of specialists, the Routledge Encyclopedia of Second Language Acquisition is an invaluable resource for students and researchers with an academic interest in SLA.