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The development of the nominal domain in creole languages: A
comparative-typological approach
Bobyleva, E.
Publication date
2013
Link to publication
Citation for published version (APA):
Bobyleva, E. (2013). The development of the nominal domain in creole languages: A
comparative-typological approach. LOT.
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Acknowledgments vii
List of abbreviations xi
1 Introduction 1
1.1 The issue of creole genesis 1
1.2 Creole nominal expressions 2
1.3 Research questions 5 1.4 Methodology 6 1.4.1 Sampling 6 1.4.2 Data collection 7 1.5 Theoretical background 8 1.5.1 Syntactic framework 8
1.5.2 Semantic analysis: definitions 9
1.6 Organization of the book 9
I Setting
the
stage
11
2 Creolization and contact language formation 13
2.1 Linguistic aspects 14
2.1.1 Superstrate languages 14
2.1.2 Substrate languages 16
2.1.2.1 Atlantic and Indian Ocean Creoles 16
2.1.2.2 Afrikaans 20
2.1.2.3 Tok Pisin 21
2.1.2.4 Chabacano 22
2.1.2.5 Diu Portuguese 23
2.2 Socio-historical aspects 23
2.2.1 The amount of contact between groups of colonial population 23
2.2.1.1 Homestead society 24
2.2.1.2 Plantation society 26
2.2.1.3 Maroon communities 27
2.2.1.4 Post-colonial creole society and decreolization 28
2.2.2 Creoles and pidgins 29
3 The issue of creole genesis 35
3.1 Creolization as a result of a break in language transmission 36
3.1.1 Universalist accounts of creolization and Bickerton’s Language Bioprogram 37
3.1.2 Creole Exceptionalism 40
3.1.3 Substratist accounts of creolization and Lefebvre’s Relexification Hypothesis 42
3.2 Against the break in transmission idea 44
3.2.1 Creolization as a gradual restructuring of the superstrate 44
3.2.2 Mufwene’s competition-and-selection scenario of creole genesis 47
3.2.3 Mentalist approach to feature competition-and-selection 52
3.3 Processes underlying creole development 54
3.3.1 Second language acquisition 54
3.3.2 Grammaticalization 55
3.4 Summary and Discussion 56
4 Nominal expressions: functions, semantics, and structure 59
4.1 Functions and semantics 60
4.1.1 Denotation and reference 60
4.1.2 Lexical noun types 61
4.1.3 Borer’s universalist approach to nominal lexical semantics 63
4.1.4 Individuation 64
4.1.5 Quantification and other ways to express number 65
4.1.6 Identifiability 65
4.1.7 Definiteness 66
4.1.8 Specificity and referentiality 69
4.1.8.1 Semantic specificity 69
4.1.8.2 Pragmatic specificity 70
4.1.8.3 Specificity of definite NEs and topicality 73
4.2 Structure 77
4.2.1 Morphosyntactic features and their structural representation 77 4.2.2 NP and DP 79
4.2.3 The structure of the nominal functional domain 80
4.2.4 Non-overt features and the issue of null D 83
4.2.5 Word order and movement 84
II Analysis
87 5 Forms 89 5.1 Indefinite determiners 90 5.2 Definite determiners 90 5.3 Demonstratives 92 5.4 Plural markers 935.4.1 Germanic/Romance-derived plural inflection 94
5.4.2 Germanic/Romance plural demonstratives and quantifiers 94
5.4.3 Germanic/Romance 3Pl pronouns 95
5.4.4 Substrate-derived plural markers 97
5.4.5 Substrate-derived 3Pl pronouns 97
5.4.6 More on 3Pl pronoun as a plural marker 99
5.5 Summary and concluding remarks 106
6 Structures 109
6.1 Number, gender, and agreement 109
6.2 Word order 113
6.2.1 Adjectives and numerals 113
6.2.2 Indefinite determiners 117
6.2.3 Definite determiners 119
6.2.4 Plural markers 121
6.2.5 Demonstratives 130
6.3 Co-occurrence and interdependencies between nominal markers 141
6.4 Summary 144
6.5. Discussion 146
7 Individuation and Number 151
7.1 Bare NEs and individuation 154
7.2 Overt markers of individuation and singularity 158
7.3 Overt markers of individuation and plurality 160
7.4 Creole plural markers as markers of collectivity 163
7.4.1 Definiteness and specificity effects on the distribution of plural markers 163
7.4.2 The non-redundancy principle 177
7.4.3 Some special properties of creole plural markers 180
7.4.3.1 Plural marking with plural, collective and mass nouns 180 7.4.3.2 Plural marking with conjoined NEs 182
7.4.4 Creole plural markers as collective aspect markers 185
7.5. Discussion 187
7.5.1 A new system of number marking in creoles and its possible origins 187
7.5.2 Distribution creole plural markers: universal principles of reference marking or substrate influence? 182
7.5.3 Associative plural marking – a substrate-derived feature 189
7.5.4 Superstrate-like number marking in creoles 191
8 Indefinite determiners and specificity 193
8.1 Creole indefinite determiners as specificity markers 196
8.2 Indefinite determiners with non-specific NEs 200
8.3 No indefinite determiner with specific indefinite NEs 205
8.4 Contexts that favor bare NEs 206
8.4.1 Predicate nominals 206
8.4.2 Complements of prepositions 209
8.5. Discussion 210
8.5.1 Specificity-based pattern: unfinished grammaticalization or substrate influence? 210
8.5.2 Definiteness-based pattern: grammaticalization or superstrate influence? 212
9 Definite determiners: specificity and topicality 219
9.1 Deviations from the definiteness-based pattern: evidence for nominal topic marking? 225
9.1.1 Creoles without a dedicated definite determiner 225
9.1.2 Creoles with a dedicated definite determiner 229
9.2 Approximating the definiteness-based pattern 235
9.3 Contexts that favor bare NEs 246
9.3.1 NEs with unique referents 246
9.3.2 Discourse topics 248
9.3.3 Complements of prepositions 249
9.3.4 Zero determiner or no determiner: a syntactic analysis 251
9.4 Discussion 252
9.4.1 Deviations from the definiteness-based pattern: unfinished grammaticalization or substrate influence 253
9.4.2 The development of the definiteness-based pattern: grammaticalization or superstrate influence 256
3
Synthesis
263
10 Discussion and Conclusions 265
10.1 Major empirical observations 266
10.2 Implications for the issue of creole genesis 269
10.2.1 Etymology and Structure 270
10.2.2 Semantico-pragmatic properties and distribution 274
10.2.2.1 Universal principles of reference marking and discourse organization 275
10.2.2.2 Substrate influence? 277
10.2.2.3 Grammaticalization or superstrate influence? 278
10.2.3 External factors affecting the outcome of creolization 279
10.2.4 Creole genesis: summary 280
10.3 Contribution to the research on nouns and NEs 281
10.3.1 Creole data in the light of the DP-hypothesis 281
10.3.2 Creole data and Rijkhoff’s lexico-semantic noun types 283
10.4 Directions for further research 284
References 285
Samenvatting (Dutch Summary) 301
Curriculum Vitae 305
