Type a new keyword(s) and press Enter to search

Creole Languages

 

The Creole and Pidgin languages of the world "although they differ from each other in their grammar, phonetics and vocabulary "show a number of similarities, even if their superstratum languages (the language from which the given Creole language can be originated from, for instance: english, french, portuguese, arabian, spanish, etc.) are completely different. Some of these similarities, which cannot be explained by accidental coincidence include the scanty inflection of verbs, the use of reduplication when emphasizing adjectives, the preferred use of free morphemes. Let's discuss other basic similarities of Creole languages at the level of semantics and syntax .
             -Articles: In the early-creolized Creole languages (which have developed from Pidgin very fast) three forms of article exist and the semantic features of these articles are the same in every Creole language. .
             -Definite article: It semantically marks a supposingly existing noun phrase (NP) in the sentence. For example: 'mi bai di buk' I bought the--supposingly known to speaker--book.
             -Indefinite article: It marks a semantically existing NP. Example: 'Mi bai wan buk' I bought a -presupposed not known to speaker "book.
             -Generic and/or non-specific article: It marks a hypothetically existing NP. Example: 'mi go bai buk' I shall go buy a book, but speaker does not know which one.
             -Focalization: In every early-creolized Creole language the focalized NP always stands at the left. The equative copula gets before this focalized NP (except for the hawaiian Creole, since it has no equative copula). Example: 'li ap achté chat-la' He is buying the cat. .
             'sé chat li ap achté a' It is the cat that he is buying.
             -Copular structures: Every early-creolized Creole language makes a difference between attributive and locative-existencial structures. In the case of attributive structures, when english uses copulas and adjectives, Creole languages tend to use static verbs.


Essays Related to Creole Languages