The Phonology and Morphology The Phonology and Morphology of Creole Languges: of Creole Languges: Simple or ComplexSimple or Complex
Norval SmithNorval Smith
ACLC/Theoretical LinguisticsACLC/Theoretical Linguistics
University of AmsterdamUniversity of Amsterdam
Structure of talkStructure of talk• Phonology
1. Saramaccan consonant system & Sranan consonant system
2. Saramaccan vowel system
• Morphology1. Definiteness and number in Sranan
2. Perfective and imperfective in Sranan
Saramaccan Saramaccan ConsonantsConsonants
p t tj k kw kp
b d dj g gw gb
m n nj
f s ?v z
w l j 23-26
Fon ConsonantsFon Consonants
t c k kp
d j g gb
f s v z bm n
21
kp vs. kwkp vs. kw
Sar 1 Sar 2 18th c. source
kpéfa kwéfa kwefa Ptg. coifa
kpéi kwéi kwêri, kwêli Eng. square
ahalakpákpa aherapápa
ahalakpákpa Fon hlakpakpa
kpan kpan Fon kpa
gb vs. gwgb vs. gw
Sar 1 Sar 2 18th c. sourcegbamba gwamba kwamba K. gwambagbaniní gwaniní gwaninì
gbegbé bebèh F. gbgb* gbl gbl bloblo F. gbl
*Sranan bebé
b vs. b vs.
Dutch Sara. gloss
blaas aási 'bladder, balloon'
balk áiki 'cross-beam'
brak(en) baláki 'bring up'
blommetje bolómítji 'flower'
N.B. obvious late borrowings from Sranan
d vs. d vs.
English Saramaccan gloss
down + go 'go down'
dead 'dead'
drink 'drink' (n.)
dig 'dig'
Sranan ConsonantsSranan Consonants• Lacks the “exotic” substrate segments of
Saramaccan.• Implosives appear as ordinary voiced
stops• /kp, gb/ are nearly always /p, b/• Lacks #mb, nd, ndj, ŋg clusters of
Kikongo.• Why? Due presumably to the hundreds of
years of contact with Dutch.
Saramaccan diphthongsSaramaccan diphthongs
• In English/Portuguese vocabulary originally only morpheme-finally. Non-final English/Portuguese diphthongs reduced to monophthongs
• •
Fon Vowel sequencesFon Vowel sequences
• In Fon vocabulary only syllable-finally
• u+i > wi ui
• o+i > we/wi oe/ui +i > w/wi
• some of the patterns
English noun plurals > SurinamEnglish noun plurals > Surinam
English Sara. Ndyuka Sranan glossshoes susu susu susu shoeclothes koosu koosi krosi clothnews njunsu nyunsu nyunsu newsyams njamisi nyamisi yamsi yampaths pasi pasi pasi pathears jesi yesi yesi earants (h)ansi antbricks briksi brickashes asisi asisi asisi ash(es)
Egg(s)Egg(s)
English Ndyuka Sranan gloss
eggs --- eksi egg
egg igi --- egg
Why general plural suffix loss?Why general plural suffix loss?
Reason probably availability of more salient pre-head structures.
1. the boat [+def]
2. that boat [+def, +dem, -plur]
3. the boats [+def, +plur]
4. them boats [+def, +dem, +plur]
Next stageNext stage
1. the boat > Ø2. that boat > da boto (> a boto)3. the boats > Ø4. them boats > dem boto
Superstrate wins out!
No English past tense suffixNo English past tense suffix
Important: English “past tense” verbs are actually perfective.
Why NO regular “past tense” form in –ed?
Some irregular cases.Some irregular cases.
English Sranan Ndyuka Sara. gloss
broke broko booko ooko ‘break’
sunk (singi) (singi) sungu ‘sink’
lost lasi lasi lasi ‘lose, lost’
SolutionSolution
1. Bare stem sign of perfective for most verbs in Gbe.
2. English “past tense” marker therefore completely redundant
3. This is a substrate feature.
ImperfectiveImperfective
• English has a complex form:– Cop + Num/Pers V + ing
• Fon equally complex:– LocCop [(O) V ]Nom
• Both come down to:– Cop V FinalElement
Other Gbe imperfectivesOther Gbe imperfectives
1. final null form in Gun and Tofin (nominalization)
2. ordinary VP in Xwela
3. etc.
Sranan imperfectiveSranan imperfective
• Present-day Sranan has:
– ImperfMkr V [e V]
• Older Sranan:
– ImperfMkr V [de V]
The originThe origin
1. We see that the earlier form of the imperfective marker was de.
2. This is homonymous with the locative copula de.
3. Therefore we can hypothesize that the original structure was actually:
LocCop V
Sranan locative copulaSranan locative copula
• The locative copula in Sranan (and other Surinam creoles) derives from the English word there, presumably – in its copular use – something like ‘be there (at)’. Why was this chosen rather than an actual form of the verb “be”? In fact the suppletive nature of “be” with its weak enclitic stems ‘s, ‘m, ‘re would have rendered it eminently unsuitable for this purpose.
What happened to What happened to -ing-ing
• -ing was just as redundant as all the various wildly different post-verbal markers in the various Gbe lects.
• It was therefore unnecessary – the locative copula was sufficient, an obvious substrate feature.
ConclusionConclusion
• Nothing inherently either complex or simple about creole grammar.
• Most phenomena can be explained as the effects of substratal, adstratal, or superstratal influence.
• In other words due to contact between languages.