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English World-Wide
Vol. 38:1 (2017) ► pp.50–76

Towards a model of language contact and change in the English-lexifier creoles of Africa and the Caribbean

| The University of Hong Kong
The Afro-Caribbean English-lexifier Creoles (AECs) exhibit fascinating combinations of disparate typological characteristics. I present a model of post-formative (“post-creolization”) contact and change and provide a comprehensive inventory of contact constellations in Africa and the Caribbean. I conduct a comparative analysis of causative constructions in seven African and Caribbean AECs, argue for the notional separation of the traditional creolist terms “superstrate”, “lexifier”, “substrate” and “adstrate”, and account for the linguistic-structural relevance of these distinctions. The model can explain the typological diversity within and across the AECs, help elucidate their genealogical and areal differentiation, and contribute to our understanding of the processes and outcomes of language contact and change in multilingual ecologies.
Keywords: Creole, Africa, Caribbean, lexifier, superstrate, substrate, adstrate, areal, typology, causative
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Methods and data
  • 3.Contact strata and creole evolution
  • 4.Stratal contact dynamics: Causative formation in the AECs
    • 4.1Typological aspects of English, AEC, and West African causatives
    • 4.2Causative formation in West African languages
    • 4.3Causative formation in the African AECs
    • 4.4Causative formation in the Caribbean AECs
    • 4.5Comparison
  • 5.Towards a model of stratal language contact in the AECs
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 29 June 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.38.1.04yak
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