Book notice: The Emergence of Pidgin and Creole Languages

[Harold Schiffman]

The Emergence of Pidgin and Creole Languages
Published: 2008
Publisher: Oxford University Press
                http://www.oup.com/us

Book URL: http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780199216673

Author: Jeff Siegel
Abstract:

This book provides explanations for the emergence of contact languages,
especially pidgins and creoles. It assesses the current state of research
and examines aspects of current theories and approaches that have excited
much controversy and debate. The book answers questions such as: How valid
is the notion of a pidgin-creole-postcreole life cycle? Why are many
features of pidgins and creoles simple in formal terms compared to other
languages? And what is the origin of the grammatical innovations in
expanded pidgins and creoles - linguistic universals, conventional language
change, the influence of features of languages in the contact environment,
or a mix of two or more factors? In addressing these issues, the author
looks at research on processes of second language acquisition and use,
including simplification, overgeneralization, and language transfer. He
shows how these processes can account for many of the characteristics of
contact languages, and proposes linguistic and sociolinguistic constraints
on their application in language contact. His analysis is supported with
detailed examples and case studies from Pidgin Fijian, Melanesian Pidgin,
Hawai'i Creole, New Caledonian Tayo and Australian Kriol, which he uses as
well to assess the merits of competing theories of language genesis.
Professor Siegel also considers his research's wider implications for
linguistic theory.

http://linguistlist.org/issues/19/19-386.html


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