CREOLISTICS, AFRICAN LEXICON, PIDGIN WORKSHOP, BOOK NOTICES (fwd)

Thu May 20 02:10:45 UTC 1999

LhaXayEm!

Pus ma kEmtEks mIlhayt tEnEs-lili pi hay-kEmtEks, dret lhush pus nanIch
ukuk khikwEli...

Dave

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 11:18:02 +0200
From: CreoLIST <CreoLIST at ling.su.se>
To: CreoLIST <CreoLIST at ling.su.se>
Subject: CREOLISTICS, AFRICAN LEXICON, PIDGIN WORKSHOP, BOOK NOTICES

Precedence: list

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Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 00:08:42 +0100
From: "Philip Baker" <battlebridge at talk21.com>
Subject: CREOLISTICS, AFRICAN LEXICON, PIDGIN WORKSHOP, BOOK NOTICES

CREOLISTICS, AFRICAN LEXICON, PIDGIN WORKSHOP, BOOK NOTICES

WESTMINSTER CREOLISTICS SERIES
As announced a few months ago, Battlebridge has acquired the Westminster
Creolistics Series from the University of Westminster Press and continues to
publish titles in this series.  The next two volumes, scheduled for
publication later this year, will be John Holm & Peter L Patrick (eds)
Comparative Creole Syntax (vol. 7) and Silvia Kouwenberg (ed.) Twice as
meaningful. Morphological reduplication in contact languages (vol. 8).  To
order any of these books via a secure (hacker-proof) server or to obtain
full details of their contents, visit <www.battlebridge.com>.
Two meetings to set in train the preparation of further books in the series
will take place during the next 12 months  one concerned with the African
lexical contribution to Caribbean Creoles and the other with Pidgins: their
nature and significance.

THE AFRICAN LEXICAL CONTRIBUTION TO CARIBBEAN CREOLES
Although the African origins have been traced of many words in individual
Creoles spoken in the Caribbean, such information has not hitherto been
brought together in a single publication.  This situation will change as and
when the list of African words in Atlantic Creoles, which Mikael Parkvall
began to compile a few years ago, is completed.  (Even in it present
incomplete form, its entries provide well over 4 000 references to African
words in English-, French-, Portuguese-, Spanish- and Dutch-lexicon
Creoles.)  It is hoped to have an abbreviated list of these African words
available at the Society for Caribbean Linguistics meeting at Mona, Jamaica
on 19 August 2000.  This could serve at least two purposes for the proposed
book on The African lexical contribution to Caribbean Creoles to be planned
at that meeting.  First, it could used as a checklist for the collection of
additional data on islands where relatively little lexical research has been
done, such as Barbados, St Kitts and Antigua.  Second, it could serve as a
starting point for assessing the significance of the African lexical
contribution to particular Creoles or groups of Creoles.  Among the many
questions which might be addressed are the following:

o How does the African lexicon in particular Creoles relate to the
settlement history of that territory?  (For example, are the African
languages best represented in the lexicon those which were spoken by the
first arrivals or by those who became dominant subsequently?)

o Which word classes and semantic domains are best represented in the
African lexicon?  What does this tell us about life prior to emancipation?
To what extent is this information consistent with the various theories
which have been proposed to account for Creole genesis?

o How does the African vocabulary vary among Creoles which draw the bulk of
their lexicon from different European languages (Dutch, English, French,
Spanish, etc.)?

o How do lexical contributions compare with grammatical contributions?  Is
the main African source of lexicon also a major structural contributor?

Since the book planning session at Mona will last for only two hours, there
will not be time for the presentation of individual papers.  However, we
would encourage anyone with a paper relating to this topic to bring along
copies for distribution to participants.  The overall aim will be to draw up
a list of potential contributors to this book as well as the range of topics
to be included in it.  We will also need to identify one or more editors for
this volume.  If you would like to take part in this session and/or
contribute to this book, please contact Philip Baker at
<battlebridge at talk21.com>.

PIDGINS: THEIR NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE
This was one of several suggestions for future workshop proposed at the
Reduplication Workshop held in London in March 1999.  A number of people
felt that Pidgins had not received the attention they deserve from Creolists
- it is significant that the word "Pidginist" has no currency - and that
this situation might be remedied by a workshop devoted exclusively to the
study of Pidgins.  It is now hoped to hold such a workshop in December 2000
or Spring 2001 (see below).  Over the past year, various ideas have emerged
as to the ground such a workshop and one or more associated books might
cover.  These include:

(i) Studies of hitherto undescribed or ill-described Pidgins (including
extinct ones).
(ii) Identifying the salient characteristics of Pidgins; are there
differences between Pidgins and Creoles which can be defined in linguistic
terms?
(iii) Evidence for and against the "classic" theory that Creoles are Pidgins
which have acquired native speakers.
(iv) The contribution of so-called "foreigner talk" and the relevance of SLA
studies to Pidgin genesis.

Additions to the above list would be welcomed.  We would also appreciate
hearing from everyone who is potentially interested in participating in such
a workshop. In particular, we would like to receive your opinions on any or
all of the following:

1. Timing.  Two suggestions so far are (a) early December 2000 and (b) April
2001.  Other dates might be considered.  Please indicate your preferences.
2. Venue.  Both Amsterdam and London are possible locations.  If you have a
preference between these two or have an alternative venue to propose, please
let us know.
3. Duration.  To date, workshops have adopted a two-days over three plan,
starting at 14.00 on Thursday or Friday and finishing at 13.00 on the
following Saturday or Sunday.  The intention has been to make it relatively
easy for those with teaching responsibilities during the relevant period to
attend, and to reflect the fact that airline tickets have traditionally been
cheaper if the Saturday night is spent at the destination.  There is also
the possibility of starting the workshop half a day earlier and/or ending it
half a day later, should demand for participation warrant that, without
changing the days.
Topics.  Please tell us about the likely topic of your contribution.  (We
are not asking for a firm commitment at this stage.)  Proposals are also
welcome from people unable to attend in person who would like to contribute
to the associated book(s), provided that they willing to make copies of
their paper available for distribution and discussion at the workshop.
 Comments and suggestions relating to the proposed Pidgin Workshop should be
sent to <battlebridge at talk21.com>.

BOOK NOTICES
Whenever new books are published, most of us would like to know whether they
are worth buying for ourselves or at least worth ordering for our university
library.  If we cannot consult a copy in a local bookshop or wait for two
years for a review to appear in a journal, the decision can be difficult.
With a view to partially overcoming this problem, Battlebridge is launching
a Book Notices page at <www.battlebridge.com/BookNotices>.  You are invited
to contribute short notices of recent and new books to this page.  We would
like to have entries for all relevant books which appeared in 1999 or the
current year.  Contributors should summarize the scope and contents of books
as well as commenting on these.  Book notices should be short (preferably
not more than 500 words).  If you disagree with the comments of any
contributors to this page, you are welcome to send comments of your own
which will be added to the page (provided they contain nothing which is
clearly untrue or abusive).  (This offer is, of course, open to authors of
any of the books listed.)  Note that some of the publications listed in this
section, such as the newly revised and greatly expanded Dictionnaire créole
seychellois  français compiled by Danielle de St Jorre and Guy Lionnet, as
well as the Krio Publications Series (eight volumes to date), can be ordered
on-line through the Battlebridge secure server.

DICTIONARIES AND GRAMMARS
Battlebridge is compiling a list of dictionaries and grammars relevant to
P/C studies.  This includes not only dictionaries and grammars of P/Cs but
also of African, Asian, etc. languages which may have influenced P/Cs.  In
some cases, Battlebridge may be able to supply copies of these books.  This
page should be available from June 2000.

For further information about any of the above, visit
<www.battlebridge.com>.

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