Post-creole continuum
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Apost-creole continuum(or simplycreole continuum) is adialect continuumofvarietiesof acreole languagebetween those most and least similar to thesuperstratelanguage (that is, a closely related language whose speakers assert or asserted dominance of some sort). Due to social, political, and economic factors, a creole language candecreolizetowards one of the languages from which it is descended, aligning itsmorphology,phonology,andsyntaxto the local standard of the dominant language but to different degrees depending on a speaker's status.
Stratification[edit]
William Stewart,in 1965, proposed the termsacrolect,the highest or most prestigious variety on the continuum, andbasilect,the lowest or least prestigious variety, as sociolinguistic labels for the upper and lower boundaries, respectively, of a post-creole speech continuum.[1]In the early 1970sDerek Bickertonpopularized these terms (as well asmesolectfor intermediate points in the continuum) to refer to the phenomenon ofcode-switchingused by some users of creole languages who also have some fluency in thestandard languageupon which the contact language is based.University of ChicagolinguistSalikoko Mufweneexplains the phenomenon of creole languages as "basilectalization" away from a standard, often European, language among a mixed European and non-European population.[2]In certainspeech communities,a continuum exists between speakers of a creole language and a related standard language. There are no discrete boundaries between the different varieties, and the situation in which such a continuum exists involves considerable social stratification.
The following table (fromBell 1976) shows the 18 different ways of rendering the phraseI gave him oneinGuyanese English:
| 1 | aɪ | ɡeɪv | hɪm | wʌn | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | wan | ||||
| 3 | a | ɪm | |||
| 4 | iː | ||||
| 5 | ɡɪv | hɪm | |||
| 6 | ɪm | ||||
| 7 | iː | ||||
| 8 | dɪd | ɡɪv | |||
| 9 | dɪ | ɡɪ | |||
| 10 | dɪd | ||||
| 11 | dɪ | ɡiː | |||
| 12 | ɡɪ | hiː | |||
| 13 | mɪ | ||||
| 14 | iː | ||||
| 15 | bɪn | ||||
| 16 | ɡiː | ||||
| 17 | æm | ||||
| 18 | |||||
The continuum shown has the acrolect form as[aɪɡeɪvhɪmwʌn](which is identical withStandard English) while the basilect form is[mɪɡiːæmwan].Due to code-switching, most speakers have a command of a range in the continuum and, depending on social position, occupation, etc. can implement the different levels with various levels of skill.[3]
If a society is so stratified as to have little to no contact between groups who speak the creole and those who speak the superstrate (dominant) language, a situation ofdiglossiaoccurs, rather than a continuum. Assigning separate and distinct functions for the two varieties will have the same effect. This is the case inHaitiwithHaitian CreoleandFrench.
Use of the termsacrolect,mesolectandbasilectattempts to avoid thevalue judgementinherent in earlier terminology, by which the language spoken by the ruling classes in a capital city was defined as the "correct" or "pure" form while that spoken by the lower classes and inhabitants of outlying provinces was "a dialect" characterised as "incorrect", "impure" or "debased".
Other examples[edit]
It has been suggested (Rickford 1977;Dillard 1972) thatAfrican American Vernacular Englishis a decreolized form of a slave creole. After emancipation, African-Americans' recognition and exercise of increased opportunities for interaction created a strong influence ofStandard American Englishonto the speech of Black Americans so that a continuum exists today with Standard English as the acrolect and varieties closest to the original creole as the basilect.
InJamaica,a continuum exists betweenJamaican EnglishandJamaican Patois.[4][5]
In Haiti, the acrolect isHaitian Frenchand the basilect has been standardized asHaitian Creole.
Meanwhile, in southern Africa,Afrikaansis a codified mesolect, or a partial creole,[6][7]with the acrolect (standardDutch) stripped of official status decades ago, having been used for only religious purposes.
Notes[edit]
- ^Stewart (1965:15)
- ^Mufwene, Salikoko(2002)."Salikoko Mufwene: Pidgin and Creole Languages".mufwene.uchicago.edu.Archived fromthe originalon March 15, 2016.Retrieved2019-04-30.
- ^DeCamp (1977:?)
- ^Meade (2001:19)
- ^Irvine-Sobers GA (2018).The acrolect in Jamaica: The architecture of phonological variation(pdf).Berlin: Language Science Press.doi:10.5281/zenodo.1306618.ISBN978-3-96110-114-6.
- ^Deumert, Ana (2017-07-12)."Creole as necessity? Creole as choice?".Language Contact in Africa and the African Diaspora in the Americas.Creole Language Library.53.Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company: 101–122.doi:10.1075/cll.53.05due.ISBN978-90-272-5277-7.Retrieved2021-08-03.
- ^Smith, J.J (1952)."THEORIES ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF AFRIKAANS"(PDF).Hofmeyer Foundation Lectures, University of the Witwatersrand.
References[edit]
- Bell, R.T. (1976),Sociolinguistics: Goals, Approaches, and Problems,Batsford
- Bickerton, Derek(1975).Dynamics of a Creole System.Cambridge University Press.ISBN9780521205146.
- DeCamp, D (1977), "The Development of Pidgin and Creole Studies", in Valdman, A (ed.),Pidgin and Creole Linguistics,Indiana University Press
- Dillard, John L. (1972),Black English: Its History and Usage in the United States,Random House,ISBN0-394-71872-0
- Meade, R.R. (2001),Acquisition of Jamaican Phonology,Dordrecht: Holland Institute of Linguistics
- Rickford, John (1977), "The Question of Prior Creolization in Black English", in Valdman, A (ed.),Pidgin and Creole Linguistics,Indiana University Press
- Stewart, William(1965), "Urban Negro speech: Sociolinguistic factors affecting English teaching", in R. Shuy; A. Davis; R. Hogan (eds.),Social dialects and language learning,National Council of Teachers of English, pp. 10–18