On one end we find biclausal structures: A causative main verb takes a clausal complement marked for subjunctive mood. (1) Can we reconcile the complexity of the mixed grammar and lexicon of a language like Pichi withthe notion of simplicity given that code-mixing of the type presented here forms an integral partof the linguistic system of the language? (2) Can we reconcile the restructuring (or “elaboration” in terms of the simplicity hypothesis) of Pichi grammar and lexicon through code-mixing within the short time-span of a hundred and seventy years with the notion that the youth of Creoles makes them simpler than non-Creoles?Ĭausative formation in the family of Afro-Caribbean English-lexicon Creoles (AECs) can be ordered along a continuum with an “African” and a “European” pole. This paper attempts to provide answers to two questions. In the multilingual speech communities of West Africa but equally so in other regions, Creoles are in contact with lexifier superstrates, with historically unrelated non-lexifier superstrates and with a host of adstrate and substrate languages. None of these accounts has taken into consideration that typically, Creoles are languages in contact. Recent attempts to prove the simplicity of Creoles with respect to non-Creoles have, like preceding ones concentrated on describing the assumed paucity of selected surfacephenomena in quantitative terms.
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