Post-creole speech continuum

Post-creole speech continuum

Due to the relationship between a creole language and its superstrate language, that is, a language that is very closely related and whose speakers assert social, political, and economic dominance over speakers of said creole language, a post-creole continuum (or creole continuum) may arise. It is a process wherein a creole language will decreolize and become closer in phonology, morphology, and syntax to the standard of the dominant language but to different degrees depending on a speaker's status and education.

tratification

William Stewart, in 1965, proposed that the terms acrolect and basilect be the sociolinguistic labels for the upper and lower boundaries respectively of a post-creole speech continuum. [Harvcoltxt|Irvine|2004|p=42] In the early 1970s Derek Bickerton popularized these terms (as well as mesolect for intermediate points in the continuum) to refer to the phenomenon of code-switching used by some users of creole languages who also have some fluency in the standard language upon which the contact language is based. University of Chicago linguist Salikoko Mufwene explains the phenomenon of creole languages as "basilectalization" away from a standard, often European, language among a mixed European and non-European population. [ [http://humanities.uchicago.edu/faculty/mufwene/pidginCreoleLanguage.html Salikoko Mufwene: Pidgin and Creole Languages ] ] In certain speech communities, a continuum exists between speakers of a creole language and a related standard language. There are no discrete boundaries between the different varieties and the situation in which such a continuum exists involves considerable social stratification.

The following table (from Harvcolnb|Bell|1975) shows the 18 different ways of rendering the phrase "I gave him one" in Guyanese English:

The continuum shown has the acrolect form as IPA| [aɪ geɪv hɪm wʌn] (which is nearly identical with Standard English) while the basilect form is IPA| [mɪ bɪn giː æm wan] . Due to code-switching, most speakers have a command of a range in the continuum and, depending on social position, occupation, etc can implement the different levels with various levels of skill. [Harvcoltxt|DeCamp|1977|p=?]

If a society is so stratified as to have little to no contact between groups who speak the creole and those who speak the superstrate (dominant) language, a situation of diglossia occurs, rather than a continuum. Assigning separate and distinct functions for the two varieties will have the same effect. This is the case in Haiti with Haitian Creole and French.

Use of the terms "acrolect", "mesolect" and "basilect" avoids the value judgement inherent in earlier terminology, by which the language spoken by the ruling classes in a capital city was defined as the "correct" or "pure" form while that spoken by the lower classes and inhabitants of outlying provinces was "a dialect" characterised as "incorrect", "impure" or "debased".

Other examples

It has been suggested (Harvcolnb|Rickford|1977; Harvcolnb|Dillard|1972) that AAVE is a decreolized form of a slave creole. Once blacks acquired recognition of equality under the law, opportunities for interaction created a strong influence of standard (American) English onto the speech of blacks so that a continuum exists today with Standard English as the acrolect and varieties closest to the original creole as the basilect.

In Jamaica, a continuum exists between Jamaican English and Jamaican Patois. [Harvcoltxt|Meade|2001|p=19]

Notes

References

*citation
last = Bell
first = R.T.
year=1976
title=Sociolinguistics: Goals, Approaches, and Problems
publisher=Batsford

*cite book|title=Dynamics of a Creole System|author=Bickerton, Derek|year=1975
publisher=Cambridge University Press

*citation
last = DeCamp
first = D
editor = Valdman, A
year = 1977
title=Pidgin and Creole Linguistics
chapter=The Development of Pidgin and Creole Studies
publisher=Indiana University Press

*citation
last=Dillard
first=John L.
year=1972
title=Black English: Its History and Usage in the United States
publisher=Random House
isbn = 0-394-71872-0

*citation
last=Meade
first=R.R.
year=2001
title=Acquisition of Jamaican Phonology
place=Dordrecht
publisher=Holland Institute of Linguistics

*citation
last=Rickford
first = John
editor=Valdman, A
year=1977
title=Pidgin and Creole Linguistics
chapter=The Question of Prior Creolization in Black English
publisher=Indiana University Press

*citation
last = Stewart
first= William
year= 1965
editor=R. Shuy
editor2= A. Davis
editor3= R. Hogan
chapter=Urban Negro speech: Sociolinguistic factors affecting English teaching
title=Social dialects and language learning
pages=10-19


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Post-creole continuum — The Post creole continuum or simply creole continuum refers to a situation wherein a creole language consists of a spectrum of varieties between those most and least similar to the superstrate language (that is, a closely related language whose… …   Wikipedia

  • Creole language — A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable natural language developed from the mixing of parent languages; creoles differ from pidgins (which are believed by scholars to be necessary precedents of creoles) in that they have been nativized …   Wikipedia

  • Virgin Islands Creole — For the Dutch based creole that was once spoken in the Danish West Indies, now the U.S. Virgin Islands, see Negerhollands. Virgin Islands Creole Netherlands Antilles Creole Spoken in British Virgin Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saba, Sint… …   Wikipedia

  • Dialect continuum — Linguistics …   Wikipedia

  • Jamaican (language) — Infobox Language name=Jamaican Patois (Jamaican Creole) states=Jamaica (also spoken by people of the Jamaican diaspora) speakers= Over 4 million familycolor=Creole fam1=Creole language fam2=English Creole fam3=Atlantic fam4=Western iso2= none… …   Wikipedia

  • Decreolization — is a hypothetical phenomenon whereby over time a creole language reconverges with one of the standard languages from which it originally derived. First proposed by Keith Whinnom at the 1968 Mona conference, the concept has come under fire in… …   Wikipedia

  • Language contact — occurs when two or more languages or varieties interact. The study of language contact is called contact linguistics. Multilingualism has likely been common throughout much of human history, and today most people in the world are multilingual.[1] …   Wikipedia

  • БИБЛИОГРАФИЯ — Аванесов Р.И. Русское литературное произношение. Изд. 5 е. М., 1972. Аврорин В А. Проблемы изучения функциональной стороны языка (К вопросу о предмете социолингвистики). М., 1975. Алексеев А А. Бесписьменные дагестанские языки: Функциональный… …   Словарь социолингвистических терминов

  • Ausbausprache, Abstandsprache and Dachsprache — Linguistics …   Wikipedia

  • Ausbausprache - Abstandsprache - Dachsprache — The Ausbausprache Abstandsprache Dachsprache (IPA de|ˈaʊsbaʊˌʃpʁaːxə] [ˈapʃtantˌʃpʁaːxə] [ˈdaxˌʃpʁaːxə) framework is a tool developed by sociolinguists for analysing and categorising the status of language varieties along the between autonomous… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”