Language contact and the differentiation of the Afro-Caribbean English-lexifier Creoles

Abstract

West Africa is a vast geographical region, harbours several language families and has one of the highest language densities of the world. Yet, the languages of the area are characterised by a high degree of typological similarity (e.g. Gueldemann 2008). It therefore seems natural that the languages belonging to African branch of the family of Afro-Caribbean English-lexifier Creoles and Pidgins (AECs) would form part of the convergence movement that typifies the West African linguistic area. In this paper, I will focus on two isoglosses to show that adstrate transfer from African languages due to widespread multilingualism as well as substrate transfer due to ongoing language shift to creole languages has indeed been leaving traces in the linguistic systems of these languages. One of these isoglosses is the unitary system of subjunctive mood expression featuring the subjunctive complementiser mek in the African AECs. Functionally and formally identical patterns of subjunctive marking are found throughout West Africa and are probably an areal phenomenon. The Caribbean AECs feature reflexes of the same form but their uses are more restricted and compete with other modal forms. I hypothesize that the 'untidier' state of the modal system of the Caribbean AECs is a consequence of adstratal influence from English and other European languages, which feature equally untidy systems. This is one of numerous examples for the divergence of the African and Caribbean AECs due to differing adstrate influences. Some questions of theoretical concern make a detailed analysis of these forces of language change worthwhile: How has continuous contact with the substrates of a putative Atlantic English-lexifier proto-creole contributed to the typological differenciation of the African from the Caribbean branch of the family? How has contact with English contributed to the typological profile of the African vs. the Caribbean Anglo-Creoles? Which differences may be attributed to internal development alone?