Masuda, "The Genesis of Discourse Grammar..."

[Dave Robertson]

Hello,

I pass this along only because the blurb mentions a connection with Chinook
Jargon, and because Dell's words appear here.  I haven't seen this book.
It's available from Peter Lang publishers--see their website for several
more titles in creolistics.

Dave

The Genesis of Discourse Grammar: Universals and
              Substrata in Guyanese, Hawaii Creole English


            Author:
                           Hirokuni Masuda
                                                        Published:
                                                                     2000
              ISBN:
                              0-8204-4448-0
                                                            Price:
                                                                     59.95
              ISSN:
                               1074-6765
                           Series Information
                                                           Pages:
                                                                     288
           Binding:
                             Hard Cover
                                                         -
                                                                      -
       About the Book
       Hirokuni Masuda applies the modified Verse Analysis to the study of
creole languages seeking
       evidence to support the two principal theories: universalist and
substratist. Hawaii Creole manifests in
       discourse a universal feature of patterning, which is shared by
Guyanese Creole as well as by Chinook
       Jargon. On the other hand, Hawaii Creole also shows an idiosyncratic
phenomenon of numbering,
       which appears to have been linguistically transferred from Japanese
as substratum. Dr. Masuda’s
       research reinforces a hypothesis that both internal innate properties
and external substratal factors
       need to be taken into account to explain the origin of creole
discourse grammar.

           "Verse Analysis arose out of concern with the organization of
oral narratives. By now such
           constituents, and the recurrent relations among them, have been
discovered in more than
           sixty Native American languages, in many narratives in English,
and in a number of other
           languages, including Chinook Jargon. All these studies have
focused on particular texts. Dr.
           Masuda is the first to connect such relations with historical
change, giving a new dimension
           to the emergence of creole languages. It is to be hoped that
others will follow his lead."
           —Dell Hymes, Department of Anthropology, University of Virginia
"Dr. Masuda has brought
           a new perspective to the study of creole origins and his careful
work will repay reading by
           creolists as well as by all those concerned with the analysis of
discourse." —Derek
           Bickerton, Department of Linguistics, University of Hawaii at
Manoa "Hirokuni Masuda’s
           book reveals how universals and substratum influence are
manifested in creole discourse.
           Applying Verse Analysis to Hawaii Creole English, Dr. Masuda
shows that speakers of
           Japanese ancestry have maintained certain salient features of
narrative structure
           characteristic of Japanese. While there has been ample evidence
for substratum influence on
           creole syntax, his study provides a striking demonstration of the
historical continuity of
           cultural and linguistic traditions at the very heart of discourse
organization." —Suzanne
           Romaine, Merton College, Oxford University

       About the Author
       Hirokuni Masuda is a dedicated researcher in theoretical and creole
linguistics. Focusing on pidgin and
       creole languages, his current research attempts to establish a theory
that explains the universal
       principles of discourse grammar in natural languages. He also has a
strong interest in recent studies in
       biolinguistics that investigate the relationship between the brain
and the human language faculty. He
       now teaches in the Department of Languages as well as in the
Linguistic Program at the University of
       Hawaii at Hilo.