Contact Linguistics. Chap

Exercise: Using Mintz’s (1971) framework for describing the sociohistorical background to creole formation, compare the roles of demographic and other social factors in the emergence of any “intermediate” creole such as Bajan, and any more “radical” creole such as Jamaican or Sranan. How far do Mintz’ criteria help to explain the different outcomes? [on Bajan see Winford 1997a, 2000a; On Jamaican Creole, see Lalla & D’Costa 1990; on Sranan, see Arends 1995b.]


4. The emergence of “intermediate” creoles: Bajan.


4.1. The social context.

“Intermediate” creoles like Bajan and Reunionnaise must be seen as creations in their own right, independent of the more radical creoles. Their formation is the result of a peculiar mix of social factors and linguistic inputs that favored the emergence of a contact variety closer to its superstrate sources. It was once commonly assumed that these creoles arose from more radical ones via a process of “decreolization”, that is, contact-induced change in a more radical creole due to continuing contact with its lexifier (e.g., Rickford 1992). But that view has been challenged by various researchers (Winford 1997a). Let us focus on Bajan.

For roughly 25 years after its colonization in 1627, Barbados relied on a small farm economy in which English and Irish settlers and servants were in close contact with Africans. Moreover, Whites outnumbered Blacks by margins of at least 6 to 1 up to 1642, when the ratio became more even. Based on these facts, among others, we can assume that by 1650, there was a sizeable group of Africans speaking second language varieties of settler dialects, especially those used by the indentured servants with whom Blacks had closest contact. These were the basis of modern Bajan. Several other factors favored the spread and survival of this variety. Even after large scale plantations were introduced to Barbados from about 1650 on, white indentured servants continued to work alongside African slaves (Beckles 1989:121). Moreover, the growth of the slave population during the plantation period was due mostly to natural increase, rather than continuous resupply from Africa. Hence, by the mid 1700’s the majority of Barbadian slaves were locally born (Rickford & Handler 1994:237). In addition, there soon emerged a significant number of children of mixed European and African parentage who were free. All of these factors, and others, encouraged the spread and consolidation of the intermediate variety modeled closely on the settler/servant dialects. The parallels with Reunion, mentioned earlier, are clear.
There is also evidence that a more radical creole emerged in Barbados, probably among field slaves, but also spreading to some poor whites, during the peak plantation period in the 18^th century, when Blacks vastly outnumbered whites. This more divergent creole survives in isolated rural villages today (Roy 1986; Rickford 1992). But the intermediate variety remains the primary and majority vernacular of Barbados.


4.2. Linguistic inputs and outcomes in Barbados.

Bajan grammar reflects heavy influence from southern English dialects, especially those of the southwest of England. The vast majority of settlers and indentured servants came from the latter region. However, Bajan grammar is not an exact replica of these sources. It shows evidence of both simplification in morphology and morphosyntax, and substratum influence from West African languages. However, the latter influence is much slighter than that found in more radical creoles. By way of brief illustration, Table 1 (from Winford 2000a:229) compares the inventory of tense/aspect categories in Bajan with those of earlier SW English dialects as described by Barnes (1886), Elworthy (1877, 1886) and Klemola (1996).

Table 1: Correspondences between BC and SW English dialects in tense/aspect marking.


Time reference BC 17th c. SW Eng. dialects.

Simple present ø (statives) do/does + V or V + pres. infl.

Simple past ø (non-statives) did + V OR V + past infl.

Relative past did + V --------

Future go(n) + V shall/will + V.

Prospective goin to + V be going to + V.

Aspectual reference.

Pres. Habitual does + V do/does + V or V + pres. infl. (+ adverbs)

Past habitual useto + V used to + V.

Progressive V-in (do) be + (a) V-ing.

Perfect done + V be/have (done) + V-ed ?

As can be seen, most of the Bajan markers are derived directly from the SW English dialects, and several of them preserve meanings similar to those they had in the latter. However, the Bajan system also departs in several respects from its sources. The differences seem to be due to a combination of simplification and substrate influence. For instance, the loss of auxiliary be in Progressive structures and of inflection in verbs is typical of simplificatory processes in second language acquisition. On the other hand, the discourse uses of unmarked verbs and the Habitual expressed by does seems to reflect substrate influence, though the latter auxiliary shows similarity to present periphrastic ‘do’ in the English dialects as well.
In addition, Bajan lacks the serial verb constructions, common in more radical creoles, that have their source in West African languages (see section 6.5.2 below). Its systems of copular predication, complementation and other aspects of its syntax have stronger parallels in its English sources than its substrates (Winford 2000a).
All of these characteristics are in keeping with the view that Bajan was the result of relatively successful shift toward a fairly accessible target language. This is true of other intermediate CEC’s like urban Guyanese and Trinidadian creole, which are closely related historically to Bajan. In these respects, the intermediate creoles resemble “indigenized” varieties much more than they resemble “radical” creoles.


5. The emergence of radical creoles: Suriname.

The creoles that arose in Suriname are often cited, with justification, as prime examples of “radical” creoles. They include Sranan Tongo, various dialects of the Eastern Maroon Creole, (Aluku-Boni, Ndjuka or Okanisi and Paamaka), Saamaka, and its mutually intelligible offshoot, Matawai. Sranan is spoken both as a first language and a lingua franca for inter-group communication throughout the coastal areas, including the capital city, Paramaribo. The Eastern Maroon (EMC) and Saamaka dialects are spoken in the interior in maroon communities founded by escaped slaves in the early to mid 18^th century. Sranan and the EMC varieties are usually classified as English-lexicon creoles because most of their vocabulary is drawn from this source. Saamaka and Matawai, on the other hand, draw roughly 30% of their vocabulary from Portuguese, and the rest mostly from English. These creoles also preserve a certain number of African words, with higher numbers in the maroon varieties.

All of the contemporary Surinamese creoles have their origins in the early Plantation Creole that emerged on the coastal plantations in the late 17^th to early 18^th century. Since modern Sranan Tongo is a more direct continuation of this early contact language, we will refer to the latter as “early Sranan.”


5.1. The sociohistorical background.

Suriname was colonized by the English in 1651, but ceded to the Dutch in 1667. Most of the English settlers and their slaves came from Barbados, with others coming from England and the Leeward Islands (especially St. Kitts). The first thirty years of settlement were characterized by small-scale farming, with relatively equal or small (2:1) ratios of Blacks to Whites, and close interaction between the two groups. It is therefore likely that most slaves spoke second language varieties of the lexifier, which they had acquired either in previous places or learnt in Suriname.

A radical change in the demographics of the colony came between 1668 and 1680, when most of the English settlers and the slaves they had brought with them left the colony. As a result, the English population declined from about 2000 in 1666 to about 38 in 1680 (Voorhoeve & Litchveld 1975:2-3). In the early 1680’s the Dutch established a successful plantation system, importing increasing numbers of slaves over the next couple of centuries. In 1668, there had been a total population of roughly 2920, of whom 1850 were Black and 1070 White. In 1684, by contrast, out of a total of about 3984, 3332 were Africans and only 652 were European, mostly Dutch, with smaller numbers of English, Portuguese and German settlers (Mulert 1917, quoted by Migge 1998:223). Over the next 40 years, the proportion of Africans to Europeans increased dramatically, from 5:1 in 1684 to 15:1 by 1720 (Migge 1998:221).
The almost total withdrawal of the English settlers and their slaves by 1680 meant that the English-lexicon contact varieties that had emerged by that time became the primary source of European input to the continuing development of early Sranan. This, added to the constant replenishment of the slave supply due to high mortality and low fertility rates among the Africans, undoubtedly contributed to the “radicalization” of the emerging creole. The continuing importation of slaves meant that new arrivals were continually acquiring the contact varieties that had already been established. This would be in keeping with the view that creole formation in Suriname was largely a process of second language acquisition by several new waves of African-born adults (Arends 1995:235). It would also explain the significant role played by West African languages in shaping the grammar of the plantation creole. We will return to this below.