Evolution, and 'functional' + 'social'

[Mikael Parkvall]

Michel DeGraff wrote:

>Actually the question whether some languages are less developed than
>others is unfortunately still very much at the forefront of
>contemporary creolistics.

For those who did not follow the debate out of which DeGraff's article was
born, a clarification is in place. The ideas that DeGraff takes issue with
do _not_ claim that certain languages are more developed in the sense of
being "more expressive", but rather that some languages contain a larger
number of features not motivated by communicative needs (such as
grammatical gender or irregular verbs). Although DeGraff makes his best to
miss this point, there is no one in contemporary creolistics who believes
that creoles are inferior means of communication.


Mikael Parkvall