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.