35.2832, Calls: [SLE Workshop] Morphological boundaries in Creole languages

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-35-2832. Sat Oct 12 2024. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 35.2832, Calls: [SLE Workshop] Morphological boundaries in Creole languages

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Date: 09-Oct-2024
From: Ana R. Luís [aluis at fl.uc.pt]
Subject: [SLE Workshop] Morphological boundaries in Creole languages


Full Title: [SLE Workshop] Morphological boundaries in Creole
languages

Date: 26-Aug-2025 - 29-Aug-2025
Location: Université Bordeaux Montaign, France
Contact Person: Ana Luís
Meeting Email: aluis at fl.uc.pt
Web Site: https://societaslinguistica.eu/sle2025/workshop-proposals/

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics; Historical Linguistics;
Linguistic Theories; Morphology; Sociolinguistics

Call Deadline: 10-Nov-2024

Meeting Description:

Workshop description:
Early research on Creole languages, often influenced by theories of
pidginization and simplification, generally emphasized syntactic and
phonological features, while morphological structures were perceived
as minimal or even absent in many Creoles. This view posited that
Creoles developed under conditions of rapid language formation, which
favored a reduction in morphological complexity. As a result, the idea
that Creoles are largely analytic or isolating languages lacking
inflectional marking remains widespread in Creole studies (e.g.,
McWhorter 1998, 2005; Thomason 2001; Parkvall 2008; Daval-Markussen
2013; Siegel et al. 2014; Velupillai 2015).

However, more recent research has challenged this oversimplified
perspective, recognizing that Creole morphology is more complex and
diverse than previously thought (Kihm 2003; Plag 2003, 2008; Luís
2015, 2018). For instance, it has been shown that many Creole
languages retain certain morphemes from their lexifier languages,
albeit often in modified forms. In Haitian Creole, for example, some
derivational affixes are preserved from French but reanalyzed or
recombined in novel ways. This suggests that, rather than undergoing
wholesale reduction, Creole languages have been shaped by more
intricate processes of retention, adaptation, and innovation.

A key factor in understanding the morphological structures of Creole
languages lies in the role of spelling conventions, which are often
poorly adapted to mirror primarily spoken languages. Researchers may
be misled into believing that grammatical markers separated by spaces
are free forms ("words"), while those written together with their
hosts must be bound forms (“affixes”/“clitics”). These orthographic
assumptions also tend to obscure linguistic change, such as reanalysis
and grammaticalization, reinforcing the oversimplified idea that
Creole languages are inherently analytic and lack morphological
richness. It is crucial to move beyond superficial orthographic cues.

Not only do the existing written records often not reflect the
complexities of spoken forms, but the lack of oral corpora and
high-quality transcriptions also remains a significant obstacle in the
study of Creole morphological boundaries. By prioritizing the
collection and annotation of oral data and refining analytical
criteria, we can move beyond these limitations and more effectively
challenge the "simplicity" narrative, which inaccurately portrays
Creole languages as morphologically impoverished.

Recent research has also emphasized the importance of accounting for
lexifier and substrate biases in comparative studies of Creole
languages (Michaelis 2020). When genealogical and areal biases are
carefully controlled, and the spectrum of Creole languages is
broadened beyond the traditionally studied varieties, researchers can
more accurately analyze morphological boundaries. Comparative methods,
which rely on systematic comparisons across languages, are
particularly useful in this context as they help avoid
overgeneralizations.

Against this background, the workshop aims to bring together scholars
investigating various morphological processes in genealogically
diverse Creole languages, particularly with regard to their
relationships with lexifiers and substrates. The workshop will foster
discussions that reassess the distinction between free forms and bound
forms in Creole morphology, exploring the complexities of
morphological evolution and language change in these contact settings.

Workshop organisers:
Ana R. Luís (University of Coimbra) and Susanne Maria Michaelis
(Leipzig University & MPI-EVA, Leipzig)

Call for Abstracts:

We invite contributions on how processes such as grammaticalization,
reanalysis, and innovation shape the morphological structure of Creole
languages and how these processes can be understood in the broader
context of contact linguistics and morphological theory. Topics of
interest include, but are not limited to:
•       Free forms and bound forms in Creole morphology and the
distinction between words, affixes and clitics;
•       Criteria for identifying morphological boundaries based on
spoken corpora;
•       Reanalysis and innovation in Creole morphology;
•       Synchrony and diachrony in Creole morphology, including
processes of grammaticalization;
•       The impact of language contact on Creole morphology in
multilingual contexts;
•       Comparative studies involving multiple Creoles as well as
comparisons between Creoles and their contributing lexifiers or
substrates;
•       The role of corpora in Creole studies: building, sharing, and
utilizing spoken data for morphological analysis;
•       Best practices for transcribing and annotating Creoles to
capture the nuances of the spoken language.

Submission Guidelines:
Provisional abstracts (300-word, excluding references) for 20-minute
presentations should be submitted to aluis at fl.uc.pt and
susanne.michaelis at uni-leipzig.de. Deadline: 10 November 2024.

We will inform all presenters of a preliminary acceptance of their
abstracts before the workshop proposal is submitted to the SLE by 20
November 2024. If the workshop proposal is accepted, presenters will
be asked to submit a 500-word abstract in EasyChair by 15 January
2025. For more details, please send an email to the workshop
organisers.



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