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Syntactic similarities of creoles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The grammars of creole languages often, though not universally, share a number of structural features, despite the fact that a number of these creole languages do not share a superstrate language, substrate languages, or contact.
Note these features are common in creoles, but do not necessarily apply to a given creole language in particular.
- Movement rules: Subject Verb Object word order, with similar mechanisms for using word order to apply focus to one of these constituents.
- Articles: definite article applied to specific and identified noun phrase, indefinite article applied to specific and newly-asserted noun phrase, and zero for nonspecific noun phrase.
- TMA (Tense-Modality-Aspect) verb systems.
- distinction of realized and unrealized complements
- relativization and subject-copying
- negation
- existential and possessive
- copula
- adjectives as verbs
- questions
- question words
- passive equivalents
The verb conjugation is typically close to an ideal Tense-Modality-Aspect pattern. In this system, the absence or presence of auxiliary verbs indicate tense (concurrent or anterior), modality (realis or irrealis) and aspect (punctual or progressive), and when present these auxiliaries occur in that order, and typically are based on similar meaning words in the pidgin or superstrate language. Thus anterior tense may be marked by words such as bin in English creoles (from been), or té in French creoles (from été), a future or subjunctive tense may be marked by go (from English go) or al (from French aller), and a non-punctual (non-stative) aspect by a word such as stei (from English stay).
| Verb Form | Nonstative | Stative | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaiian Creole | Haitian Creole | Sranan | Hawaiian Creole | Haitian Creole | Sranan | |
| Base Form (he walked; he loves) | he walk | Li Maché | a waka | he love | li rêmê | a lobi |
| Anterior (He had walked; he loved) | he bin walk | li té maché | a ben waka | he bin love | li té rêmê | a ben lobi |
| Irreal (He will/would walk;he will/would love) | he go walk | l'av(a) maché | a sa waka | he go love | l'av(a) rêmê | a sa lobi |
| Nonpunctual (he is/was walking) | he stay walk | l’ap maché | a e waka | |||
| Anterior + Irreal (he would have walked/loved) | he bin go walk | li t'av(a) maché | a ben sa waka | he bin go love | li t'av(a) rêmê | a ben sa lobi |
| Anterior+Nonpunctual (he was/had been walking) | he bin stay walk | li t’ap maché | a ben e waka | |||
| Irreal + Nonpunctual (he will/would be walking) | he go stay walk | l’av ap maché | a sa e waka | |||
| Anterior + Irreal + Nonpunctual (he would have been walking) | he bin go stay walk | li t’av ap maché | a ben sa e waka | |||
The above table demonstrates syntactic similarities of creole languages. Stative verbs are those that cannot form the nonpunctual aspect. According to Bickerton, all observed creole languages strictly follow a structure that has the anterior particle precede the irreal particle, and the irreal particle precede the nonpunctual particle, although in certain languages some compounded forms may be replaced by other constructions.
- Bickerton, Derek (1981). Roots of Language. Karoma Publishers. ISBN 0-89720-044-6.
- Bickerton, Derek (1983). "Creole Languages". Scientific American 249(8): 116-122.