The emergence of productive morphology in creole languages: the case of Haitian Creole (original) (raw)
2003, Yearbook of Morphology
The most intriguing question about creole languages is without doubt that of how they come about. This paper addresses the problem of the emergence of productive morphology in these languages on the basis of the case study of Haitian Creole (henceforth HC). The aim of this paper is threefold: 1) propose methodologies that need to be developed in order to study the morphology of creole languages; 2) present a scenario of the emergence of productive morphology in these languages within the framework of what has come to be known as the relexification account of creole genesis (Lefebvre 1998 and the references therein) 1 ; and 3), address the current issues bearing on the study of the derivational morphology of creole languages on the basis of the data discussed in this paper. The paper is organised in the following way. Section 1 addresses the problem of identifying affixes that are potentionally native (that is productive) to a given creole and proposes tests designed to identify this potentially productive morphology. Section 2 addresses the issue of the productivity of the affixes identified as potentionally native to a * The content of this paper was presented at the Siegen International Workshop on the Phonology and Morphology of Creole Languages, August 2001, under the title " O n developing methodologies for studying the morphology of creole languages". I would like to thank the participants to the workshop for their most useful comments and questions. I am greatful to
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The problem of conventionality in the development of creole morphological systems
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Dans le présent chapitre, nous nous proposons d'examiner différents modèles sur la genèse des langues créoles qui ont été proposés ou défendus au cours des 40 dernières années par des linguistes francophones en Europe (notamment Chaudenson, Hazael-Massieux et Manessy), et en Amérique du Nord (notamment Lefebvre et Valdman), à savoir les modèles substratistes, universalistes et superstratistes (ou "eurogénétiques"). Nous examinerons les questions liées aux processus cognitifs responsables de la créolisation, notamment les processus d'acquisition et d'appropriation des langues première et seconde, mais aussi les facteurs externes telle l'histoire socio-économique des colonies où les langues créoles ont vu le jour. Ensuite, nous aborderons les débats théoriques et idéologiques relatifs aux rôles respectifs des langues européennes et africaines dans la genèse des créoles, étant donné que ces questions ont été, et demeurent, très controversées parmi les créolistes francophones. Enfin, nous présenterons l'un des modèles de créolisation les plus courants, ou modèle "gradualiste", à la lumière des recherches récentes parmi les créolistes francophones et autres. Pour l'illustrer, nous comparerons des structures de différents créoles français et de français langue seconde.
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