What does and doesn’t do for creoles: zeroing in on aspect and negation 

Modern day English-based creoles retain lexical and grammatical features of their superstrate, albeit in functions not previously attested. One such example is the behaviour of the reflexes of English do, shared by several mesolectal creole varieties. According to Alleyne (1980: 183), the preverbal forms do, doz, did, don (‘do’, does’, ‘did’, ‘done’) attested in intermediate creoles, are archaic English forms that were acquired by Africans in the Caribbean as a result of vigorous acculturation processes initiated by British settlers.

Our analysis reveals that does/doesn’t are more than just archaic reflexes of the English morpheme. As a rule, the emphatic feature of English does/doesn’t was lost during its transmission over to creole usage. Furthermore, creole does/doesn’t are sometimes tense-neutral, and sometimes not. The semantic characteristics of these creole morphemes are highly structured as they allow for an intricate interplay of temporal and aspectual properties. We demonstrate that they also provide some interesting combinations with modality markers, a feature not found in the superstrate. Finally, we provide evidence to show that negating do and its reflexes is rule governed.

Reference:
Alleyne, Mervyn. 1980. Comparative Afro-American. Ann Arbor: Karoma.

English-based creoles and pidgins incorporate lexical items that stem from varieties of British English, albeit in new environments. This paper focuses on the incorporation of the English participle done in creole and pidgins. Its status as a bona fide aspect marker is not fully established in all the varieties. From a pragmatic point of view, done is accounted for as a completive (Winford 1993: 48) or terminative aspect marker (Mufwene 1984: 209), labels that entail past time reference and emphasize only one part of a dynamic event or process, i.e. its termination (Comrie 1976: 12).

Accounting for done solely in terms of closure prevents us from grasping the pragmatic message intended with state verbs and adjectival predicates. The outcome implied in such cases relates to the present and any completed action that brings about a present result need not conceptually be viewed as a bonded whole. Thus, done indicates “a complete change of state, specifically inception rather than cessation” (Chung & Timberlake 1985: 218). Furthermore, done may signal, ingression, i.e. entry into a state as in (1).

 (1) Aaz  Sonnie     si     di bakl      Sonnie     duhn     druhnk (Vincentian creole)
    ‘As soon as Sonnie sees the bottle he gets drunk.’

With non-statives, done is generally articulated with stress and high pitch (Winford 1993: 53), giving currency to Rickford’s (1987: 125) claim that done denotes emphatic perfect aspect. This label does account for the prosodic nature of done, but it also suggests that done utterances can adequately be glossed as English present perfect, which is not the case in utterances like (1). Moreover, there are notable differences between the prosodic phenomena that accompany creole done utterances and English present perfect utterances. Our survey also reveals that the emphatic-perfect label is partially borne out in done+non-stative associations, given that there are different prosodic manifestations contingent on the predicate types combined with done. Hence, we demonstrate that done has not been fully grammaticalized as a marker of completive aspect on a par with the fully grammaticalized English present perfect.

References:

Is decreolisation responsible for variation:  the case of for in Vincentian speech

It is difficult to determine to what extent language use has changed in St Vincent and the Grenadines and whether or not these changes are as a result of decreolisation. This would require in-depth diachronic research, which will be hindered by the paucity of linguistic data. The notion of decreolisation has been used by some creolists to account for language variation (Bickerton 1980, Rickford 1987). Alleyne (1980: 182 sq), however, purports that decreolisation, that process whereby a contact variety undergoes changes in the direction of standard varieties, is a recent phenomenon. Indeed, structural changes affecting Caribbean English-lexified creoles (CEC) have been attributed to the effects of decreolisation. In the area of structural application, (Winford 1993: 280) explains that the movement from benefactive gi ‘give’ in CEC gradually towards fu ‘for’ involves the increasing tendency to replace creole strategies with English ones. Among those scholars who have expressed reservations about using the decreolisation hypothesis to account for language variation is Aceto (1995). According to Aceto (1995: 94), language change owes a lot to linguistic innovation or internal motivation.

In this paper we examine the occurrences and syntactico-semantic functions of for in Vincentian speech (VinC). While our concern here is not to discuss diachronic changes which might have affected this morpheme in VinC, it is interesting to note that in earlier documents there is already evidence of syntactico-semantic and phonological variation of for. A central question arising, therefore, is which features were first attested, i.e. have VinC varieties, spoken today, moved from basilectal to less basilectal features or did different language systems develop simultaneously? Are the variations observed in present day VinC an indication that the superstrate lexifier has been exerting pressure on the creole or do they bear evidence to the fact that speakers of VinC exhibit their ability to mix different lects, and in so doing serve the stylistic and semantic communicative needs? These are some of the questions that this study attempts to provide answers to.

References:

Le rôle de la décréolisation dans l’analyse des fonctions de  /fo/ en créole vincentien

De toute évidence, la décréolisation trouve sa raison d’être par l’existence et la co-habitation de deux variations extrêmes de langues, ayant, de préférence, une même source lexicale. Si la décréolisation suppose un mouvement vers la variété superstratale, il est nécessaire d’examiner les rôles que jouent les morphèmes basilectaux en Créole vincentien (VinC) et le mouvement éventuel vers l’anglais standard (AS).

Nous nous attarderons seulement sur le morphème /fo/ en VinC. Les résultats de cette analyse nous montrent qu’il est important de rappeler que certains des colons des Caraïbes, (ceux qui ont contribué à la propagation de la langue lexificatrice des créoles) étaient eux aussi des locuteurs de variétés dialectales de l’anglais (Mufwene 2002). Carmichael (1833 : Vol. 1 : 303) note que les nègres sur St. Vincent apprenaient des expressions et des ‘scotticismes’ des maîtres et surveillants écossais présents sur l’île.

Louden (1993) cité dans McWhorter (1995 : 312) souligne que dans certains vieux dialectes de l’anglais, il y avait une construction to be for qui dénote le futur et par extension l’intention.

Rien n’avère la thèse de la décréolisation dans la variété des fonctions de /fo/ en VinC. Au contraire, il y a plus de raisons de voir dans les variétés du VinC des manifestations de toutes les variétés de langues en présence l’une de l’autre lors des années formatrices du VinC. Il n’est pas certain que /fo/ soit exclusivement dû à l’influence substratale. En effet, McWhorter montre (1999 : 309) que le morphème /fo/ en wolof, madinka, gbe, igbo, kikongo, akan et yoruba ne partage pas les mêmes fonctions que /fo/ dans les Créoles de la zone anglophone des Caraïbes (CEC). Il note aussi que le /fo/ du mandinka, qui peut être glosé so that, ne peut pas servir comme dérivation de l’emploi auxiliaire ou prépositionnel.

Bien que cet emploi de /fo/ ait pu avoir renforcé les constructions de but en CEC, les dialectes britanniques ont dû jouer un rôle non-négligeable. Dans l’énoncé (4) et en partie (5), /fo/ est employé comme complimenteur, impliquant le but au même titre que les attestations (6) et (7) du VinC:

The formation of deverbal nouns in Vincentian creole: morphological and phonological processes

This paper attests that (non-)transparent derivational processes operate in Vincentian Creole (VinC), an Atlantic creole that draws its lexicon extensively from English. We demonstrate that speakers of VinC use suffixation, conversion and phonological alternation in much the same way as the lexifier. We also establish that VinC allows for some remarkable combinations of English affixes with base forms in ways that the superstratum does not. The examples we provide show that speakers of VinC do not simply calque English affixes to VinC base words, neither do they merely transpose fossilized affixes to base forms. On the contrary, functional and phonological shifts operate with English affixes in the derivation of nouns from verbs.

La dérivation en VinC : Processus morphologiques et phonologiques

La morphologie a longtemps été considérée un domaine inadapté à l’étude des créoles atlantiques. Une des raisons principales étant que ces langues sont elles-mêmes vues comme vides de morphologie. Dans le cas où certains linguistes auraient tenté des analyses morphologiques, les créoles ne présenteraient que des variantes affixales fossilisées ou restructurées provenant des langues européennes sources. D’après McWhorter (1998, 2001), non seulement les créoles sont, du point de vue grammatical, les langues les plus simples au monde mais aussi leurs locuteurs ont recours à des procédés de dérivation morphologique transparente. Cet état de pauvresse a été déploré par Muysken (à paraître) et rectifié par plusieurs parmi lesquels DeGraff (2001), Kihm (2003) et Klein (2003). A titre d’exemple, DeGraff (2001) montre de façon convaincante que le créole haïtien procède à des formations lexicales complexes tandis que Van den Berg (2003) défend le statut dérivationnel du morphème –man en sranan.

Cette communication propose de continuer dans cette lignée pour témoigner de la présence de procédés morphologiques dans le créole vincentien (VinC), (un créole à base lexicale anglaise parlé sur les îles St. Vincent et Grenadines). Nous montrerons que les locuteurs du VinC procèdent par suffixation ou modification phonologique pour passer des verbes aux noms.

Suffixation

Modification phonologique

Certes, les procédés morphologiques en VinC n’ont rien d’exceptionnel à première vue mais cette analyse montrera que les locuteurs de ce créole opèrent des embrayages fonctionnels en combinant de façon innovante les morphèmes de base déjà présents dans la langue source, pour arriver à des résultats tout à fait créatifs.

The Syntax of Negation and Indefinite Pronouns in Standard English and its Caribbean Creole Varieties

We examine the contrastive behaviour of sentential negation and the distribution of indefinite pronouns (IP) in Standard English (SE) and English-lexified Caribbean varieties (ELC). Both systems treat negation differently. SE auxiliaries move up to the left of the sentential negator (neg) (Haegeman & Guéron 1999) whereas in ELC, tense-mood-aspect (TMA) markers remain in-situ, allowing for neg to appear at their left. Some ELC may allow for neg to be post-positioned to TMA in synthetic negation.

Negation also affects the distribution of negative IP. In SE, no-IP express only direct negation (Haspelmath 1997). In ELC, no-IP stretch across the scope of negation. Furthermore, SE any-IP are not licensed by neg, making SE one of the few European languages that do not participate in negative concord (Haspelmath 1997: 202). Interestingly, negative concord was attested until Early Modern English (Barber 1976: 282). In contrast, ELC are negative concord languages that allow for weak IP under the scope of negation. More specifically, in ELC, any-IP function as (1) universal quantificational IP congruent with all or every on the entire spectrum and equivalent to SE free choice any-; (2) non-universal quantificational or existential indefinites, licensed in contexts bearing minimal negators like hardly.

In this study we will examine how some English-based creoles operate with regard to the co-occurrence or preclusion of negative words with predicate negation. 

Driven by the need to leave no doubt in the hearer’s mind as to the purport of what is said, speakers of natural languages generally tend to put the negative word or element as early as possible (Jespersen, 1917: 6). In the literature, this is referred to as the negative-first principle (Horn 1989: 293 passim). Speakers of the creole languages we elect to analyse in this study are no exception. In fact, sentential negation occurs preverbally. It is with respect to the position of the negative particle (neg) in utterances marked for tense, mood or aspect (TMA) that some English-based creoles set themselves apart from others: either positioning neg before all TMA markers (the African (1) and South American (2) varieties), or allowing for post-positioning of neg when occurring with some TMA markers (Caribbean varieties (3)).

Propriétés du syntagme nominal : interaction entre la négation phrastique et les indéfinis négatifs

Introduction

Nous nous proposons de faire une étude de la négation phrastique dans le créole à base lexicale anglaise de Saint-Vincent-et-les-Grenadines, dorénavant le VinC. Dans un premier temps, nous examinerons la syntaxe des phrases déclaratives négatives. Cette analyse nous paraît essentielle car, comme le souligne Bickerton (1981 : 51), toute théorie sur des créoles, se doit de rendre compte de la négation, aspect qu’il considère comme un des domaines clés de la grammaire. Parmi les études des créoles qui ont rendu compte de la syntaxe des phrases négatives, celle de Bailey (1966) est une des plus complètes. De ce fait, elle mérite d’être citée. L’étude que propose Bailey sur le créole jamaïcain (CJ), est une analyse transformationnelle de la négation, sans précédent. Depuis, les travaux s’accordent pour constater que les créoles à base lexicale anglaise n’ont hérité que peu de particularités syntaxiques de la langue lexificatrice, en matière de négation.

Dans un second temps, nous examinerons l’interaction entre la négation phrastique et les indéfinis négatifs, ou des mots en-n (cf n-words dans la terminologie de Laka, 1990). Ce concept est étroitement lié à celui de la concordance négative. Les langues diffèrent selon qu’elles intègrent ou non des éléments nominaux ou adverbiaux dans des phrases négatives et selon la façon dont leurs locuteurs interprètent l’occurrence de plusieurs éléments négatifs dans une même phrase. D’après Bickerton (1981 : 65), la concordance négative est un trait prototypique des créoles.1 La notion de concordance négative, plus souvent traitée soit dans les études des créoles à base lexicale française (cf. DeGraff, 1993 ; Deprez, 1999), soit dans les études sur la variété d’anglais américain parlée par les habitants dits « Afro-Américains » (Labov, 1972 ; Howe & Walker, 2000), s’avère également utile dans l’étude du VinC. Une troisième partie sera consacrée à ce phénomène syntaxique.

On –self and Reflexivity in English-lexicon Creoles

Linguists are divided as to whether all languages are equally complex or not. In one respect, researchers maintain that it is useless to classify languages in terms of varying sophistication. (O’Grady et al. 1997). In the same vein, Kusters (2003) contends that a low level of complexity in one component is usually compensated for by a high degree of complexity in another domain of syntax, pragmatics or even culture. In another respect, there is some reluctance to classify Pidgins and Creoles as complex idioms: they are in fact termed reduced or simplified versions of their lexifiers (McWhorter, 2001). While it remains extremely difficult to provide a reliable method for measuring linguistic complexity, or simplicity for that matter, an interesting perspective has been offered by Kusters (2003: 6) who defines complexity as the amount of effort an outsider needs to make to become familiar with the target language.

This paper proposes to examine contexts where –self appears in English-lexicon creoles in the Caribbean, South American and West African areas. Morphologically, they all combine a “personal” pronoun with a cognate of the English morpheme –self to express reflexivity: -sef in Tobagonian, Krio, Jamaican, -self in Vincentian, Barbadian, Guyanese, -srefi in Sranan. Syntactically, throughout the sphere of creole usage we observe a penchant for the free –self form in adnominal and adverbial positions where -self is best analysed as an intensifier. Creoles tend to avoid lexical reflexives without altogether excluding them from usage. Moreover, creole speakers use reflexivised structures such as (1) and (2) to express actions that are typically done to oneself (1) as against those that are generally directed to a third party (2), where speakers are inclined to use a pro-self as verb argument. Semantically, perception verbs tend to take a pleonastic pro+self (3).

(1)      pro-subj_i v-bathe pro_i+skin.

(2)      pro-subj_i v-kill pro_i+self.

(3)      pro-subj_i v-think to pro_i+self

While there has been some uniformisation of forms in these creoles, the same cannot be said for the semantics. Consequently, the pragmatics may be more difficult to penetrate by an outsider. We show that, synchronically, the creole morpheme -self in Caribbean, South American and African varieties is a residue from Old English self / sylf which was optionally postposed to personal pronouns to add emphasis in reflexivised contexts. We also provide evidence to show that present day usage is a result of pragmatic enrichment or expansion of the intensifier function of -self.

X +self: reflexives and intensifiers in English-lexified creoles
 
   We propose to examine the morphosyntax of +self forms in some English-lexified creoles. In the lexifier language, +self functions as a reflexive anaphor as well as an intensifier. There is no formal distinction between reflexiviser +self and intensifier +self. They are both adjoined to an objective pronoun or possessive adjective resulting in complex morphemes by way of univerbation. A noteworthy difference, however, is that the reflexive anaphor cannot occupy the subject position in Standard English whereas intensifier +self forms can be in construction with a subject noun phrase, i.e. adnominal.

We shall use +self as a cover term for both occurrences in the creoles we propose to examine. However, phonological realisations vary across creoles: +self in Vincentian, Barbadian and Guyanese, +sef in Tobagonian, Krio and Jamaican, or +srefi in Sranan Tongo. Notwithstanding this phonological variation, there are some striking similarities.

-Morphologically, in reflexivised contexts, the creoles associate an entire paradigm of unstressed personal pronouns with +self. Unlike in the lexifier, coalescence and univerbation are optional. Moreover, it would appear that while the lexifier possesses both lexical and analytical reflexives, as in examples (1) and (2) respectively, the creoles tend to avoid lexical reflexives without excluding them completely from usage. Compare with (3), where parentheses encircle optional units.

(1)  John washed, shaved, then dressed.

(2)  John saw himself in the mirror.

(3)  pro/subj_i v-bathe (pro_i+self/skin/body). [Creoles]

-Syntactically, creole reflexive anaphors surface in object position, in harmony with Chomsky’s (1981) binding principles. With respect to intensifier +self, evidence from the creoles indicates that +self occurs as a non-argument, adnominally and adverbially. In some of these creoles, personal pronouns are used not only to mark disjoint reference but also co-reference particularly in 1^st and 2^nd persons and optionally in 3^rd person (Heine 2005). In the latter case, speakers resort to the +self adjunct as a disambiguating device (4).

(4)  pro/subj_i v-cut pro_i (+self). [eg. Sranan]

Here the parallel with reflexivisation in Old English (OE) is compelling. We shall not argue for some sort of genetic relationship between OE and English-lexicon creoles; only that we should not overlook the fact that reflexivity was expressed by ordinary personal pronouns in OE and that intensifier +self could optionally be added for emphasis.

Alongside the typical reflexive use which developed in Modern English and which was restructured in the creoles, creole speakers have transferred other syntactical properties of the intensifier particle +self from OE and expanded the range of functional elements it could intensify: in both subject and object positions, it modifies proper nouns, personal pronouns and common nouns formerly expressed as pN+self, pro+self and det+N+self respectively. What is more, there are uses of +self not construed with NPs but rather with other lexical items like verbs, adjectives and adverbs. This leads us to posit that +self is a relatively autonomous morpheme, which gets its lexical meaning from syntactic ordering.

References:

 
A Demolinguistic profile of St Vincent and the Grenadines: or a successful attempt at linguistic disenfranchisement

In this paper we will address demolinguistic dynamics of the period of contact between the Arawak and Carib Indians and succeeding settlers in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG). More particularly, we will attempt to examine the impact this contact had on the language(s) spoken by the Indian people(s) and consequently the Garifunas and Africans. We show that the absence of a variety of Island Carib in SVG today is a direct result of the extirpation of the Garifuna population in the late eighteenth century and of the linguistic rupture occasioned by their deportation.

Admittedly, nations do not preserve languages, speakers do. For one thing, the deportation of the Garifuna people was not in the least tantamount to language attrition per se since varieties of Garifuna language are still spoken by descendants in the Garifuna diaspora outside SVG. Neither does extirpation rime with linguistic disenfranchisement. Furthermore, the condition sine qua non for the continued existence of a language is not only the survival of its speakers but also, and more crucially, the freedom to use it. This does not seem to have been the case in SVG. In a small, geographical space, where at least three ethnic groups cohabited, one can unreservedly entertain the idea of some degree of language intermingling. There may be reasons to believe that the language spoken by the Garifunas was not unique to them and that despite their expulsion, those Africans who had adopted it as a lingua franca (Taylor, 1951: 51) as well as Garifunas who had escaped exile could have preserved it for generations.

The language blending between the Arawak and the Carib varieties subsisted well beyond the symbolic granting of St Vincent to the Earl of Carlisle in 1627 and certainly until the heyday of European conquests in the Americas complicated the linguistic tableau significantly. With the chance arrival of Africans destined for slavery in the new colonies, the demographic reality had a considerable impact on the linguistic canvas. At this time the French and the British were contesting the possession of SVG. Their primary intent was to take full advantage of the high demand for sugar, thus the economic justification for perpetrating full-scale slavery and for establishing settlements of slaves for the purpose of cane production. This was no easy task for the colonists. To ensure a smooth transition to plantation slavery, William Young reminded His Majesty’s Ministers that for the general safety of the Memoralists, it was indispensable to carry out their original plan to transport “the African negroes (usurping the Indian name of Caribs) … to a part of the world congenial to their origin, temper and customs” (in Shephard, 1831: Appendix xli).

We show that subsequent to this deportation, the British viewed the imposition of their language as essential for “rapid progress” (Duncan, 1955: 35) as it was absurd to think that the British would adopt the “uncouth jargon” (Carmichael, 1833, Vol. 1: 5) of their subjects.

References:

Stress assignment and functions of pitch in Vincentian Creole

Previous research on Caribbean English-lexicon Creoles (Cecs) has underlined the importance of suprasegmentals in understanding the Creole lexicon. Cf. Carter (1987); Devonish (1989). This study goes beyond the lexicon to give an instrumental analysis of connected utterances in Vincentian Creole (VinC). We show that in the eight pairs of segmentally identical utterances recorded, meaning is conditioned by fundamental frequency, intensity and duration. This accounts firstly, for the demarcating function of these three acoustic features but more so for their role in disambiguating syntactic structures. We provide phonetic evidence of how native speakers of VinC use acoustic cues to convey unambiguous messages by differentiating lexical innovations from grammatical morphemes and morphologically bound items from syntactically bound morphemes via phonetic features and intonation phrasing.

 
Vincentian speech: a conservative creole?

The linguistic situation in St. Vincent has attracted little attention from scholars save for the linguistic anthropological investigation conducted by Taylor (1977) on Island Carib, language of the indigenous population. One creolist who has drawn attention to the English-lexicon Creole spoken in St. Vincent is Winford (1993: 4) who classifies it as a “relatively conservative” one. According to Winford, this conservatism refers to features closer to English. I shall examine this classification.

Data collected: radio, poetry and prose, seem to indicate that it is inaccurate to label the Vincentian Creole a conservative one since one finds evidence of basilectal, mesolectal and acrolectal features. In the same way English exerts pressure on the basilectal variety as opposed to the “intermediate variety” of Vincentian speech, so too does the Creole  exert pressure on English:

-        (…) We had a lovely fruit juice company here and I always wondered why we would see fruit juices (…) and all DER ODER BEARS (‘the other beers’)  you never see our BEAR AN (‘beer and’) you know all DESE (‘these’) little things like that (…) AH (‘I’)mean, I keep SAYIN YO (‘saying you’) know one HAN CAAN (‘hand can’t’) clap.

There are mainly English features mingled with:

-         Creole phonological features: /d/ for /ð/; beer pronounced like bear; elision of /d/ (and, hand); assimilation of /NG/ to /n/ (sayin);

-         Creole grammatical features in loan words/expressions from creole: AH, YO, ONE HAN CAAN CLAP.

The creole continuum might best have been theorized by DeCamp (1971: 351) however, Craig (1971: 373) also shed light on the phenomenon. Admittedly, striving for social status through English creates an “area of interaction” between creole and standard, but when a society lays claim to its creole, there is increasing influence on its inhabitants:

Prior to a classification of the Vincentian Creole, in-depth analysis is necessary. I shall examine the occurrence and functions of fi/fo/fu along the lines of a creole continuum. Byrne (1984: 99) illustrates that fi/fo/fu function as preposition, complementizer and modal auxiliary in Caribbean English Creoles which Winford classifies as conservative. In the data we collected, fi/fo/fu function as:

-         marker of possession: DIS AH FU ME COUNTRY;

-         infinitive complementizer: DIS AH (‘This is’) MY PRIVILEGE FO (‘to’) TELL YOU HOW I FEEL

-         preposition: SHE WENT TO LOOK FO DE (‘for the’) JOB.