Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T11:09:31.675Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Historical and linguistic evidence in favour of the relexification theory in the formation of creoles1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Jan Voorhoeve
Jan Voorhoeve
Affiliation:
University of Leiden, the Netherlands
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Three different Creoles spoken in Surinam are examined for their Creole origins. Saramaccan (SM) and Sranan (SN) are compared on basic vocabulary and other linguistic features and analyzed in conjunction with historical evidence. It is suggested that SN and SM speakers came to Surinam plantations with a basic knowledge of Portuguese-Creole. SN completely relexified in the direction of English, whereas SM only partly relexified toward English. Evidence suggests that Ndjuka (ND) is not a product of relexification, but developed from an eighteenth-century English pidgin. It is concluded that both ‘normal’ genetic developments and relexification may have similar results and that comparative evidence alone is not a sufficient basis for historical conclusions (comparative linguistics, creoles, relexification).

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , April 1973 , pp. 133 - 145
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1973

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alleyne, M. C. (1971). Acculturation and the cultural matrix of creolization. In D., Hymes (ed.) (1971). 169–86.Google Scholar
Alphen, G. van (1963). Suriname in een onbekend journaal van 1693. Nwe West-Ind. Gids 42. 303–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daeleman, J. (1971). Kongo words in Saramacca Tongo. In Hymes, D. (ed.), (1971). 281–3.Google Scholar
Decamp, D. (1971). Introduction: the study of pidgin and creole languages. In Hymes, D. (ed.), (1971). 13–39.Google Scholar
Hall, R. A. Jr. (1966). Pidgin and creole languages. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Hancock, I. F. (1969). A provisional comparison of the English-based altantic creoles. AfrLR 8. 7–72.Google Scholar
Herskovits, M. J. (1930/1931). On the provenience of the Portuguese in Saramacca Tongo. De West-Ind. Gids 12. 545–57.Google Scholar
Hesseling, D. C. (1905). Het Negerhollands van de Deense Antillen. Bijdrage tot de geschiedenis der Nederlandse taal in Amerika. Leiden.Google Scholar
Hesseling, D. C. (1923). Het Afrikaans. Bijdrage tot de geschiedenis der Nederlandse taal in Zuid-Afrika. 2nd ed. Leiden.Google Scholar
Huttar, G. L. (1971). A comparative word list for Djuka. In Grimes, J. (ed.) Languages of the Guianas (Summer Institute of Linguistics), 12–21.Google Scholar
Hymes, D. (ed.) (1971). Pidginization and creolization of languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Navarro Tomás, T. (1951). Observaciones sobre el papiamento. Nueva revista de filologla hispánica 7. 183–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rens, L. L. E. The historical and social background of Surinam Negro-English. Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Schuchardt, H. (1909). Die lingua franca. Zs. f. romanische Philologie 33. 441–61.Google Scholar
Schuchardt, H. (1914). Die sprache der Saramakkaneger in Surinam. Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Southworth, F. C. (1971). Detecting prior creolization. An analysis of the historical origin of marathi. In Hymes, D. (ed.), (1971). 255–73.Google Scholar
Spencer, J. (1971). Introduction to Spencer, J. (ed.), The English language in West Africa. London: Longman. 1–34.Google Scholar
Swellengrebel, J. L. (1972). A Portuguese bible translator in Java. Bible Translator 23. 126–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, D. (1960). Language shift or changing relationship? IJAL 26. 155–61.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. W. (1961). A note of some possible affinities between the creole dialects of the Old World and those of the New. In le Page, R. B. (ed.), Creole language studies II (London), 107–13.Google Scholar
Voorhoeve, J. (1957). The verbal system of Sranan. Lingua 6. 374–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Voorhoeve, J. (1961). Le ton et la grammaire dans le Saramaccan. Word 17. 146–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Voorhoeve, J. (1970). The regularity of sound correspondences in a creole language (Sranan). JAfrL 9. 51–69.Google Scholar
Voorhoeve, J. (1971) Church creole and pagan cult languages. In Hymes, D. (ed.), (1971). 305–15.Google Scholar
Whinnom, K. (1956). Spanish contact vernaculars in the Philippine Islands. London and Hong Kong.Google Scholar
Whinnom, K. (1965). The origin of the European-based creole, and pidgins. Orbis 14. 509–27.Google Scholar
Wullschlaegel, H. R. (1855). Lets over de Neger-Engelsche taal en de bijdrage tot hare ontwikkeling en literatuur, door de zendelingen der Evangelische Broedergemeenschap geleverd. West-Indië 1. 286–95.Google Scholar