Creole Speech Communities

Patterns in Language, Culture, and Society: Sub-Saharan Africa. OSU 'r{pl. 19.1-C3-l12 (fgf:) Creoie Speech Cornmunitiesr Charles S. DeBose StanforC Unlversity 1. Iltroducllon For the purpose of this discussion I shall use the term tfcommunitytt in reference to any netuork of i.ndlviduaLs r+ho interact r^tlth one another or the basls of share<l vaLues. To the extent that those shared values reLate directly to the allocation and utilization of linguistic eodes, the universe of partieipants may be considered a spqecb commirnitf. Among the shared values of any speech communjty ar"e a set of one or more d.lfferent languages (or different variet'ies of the eame language) rhich are spoken by significant numbers cf persons or, for some other reason, are considered important features of t,he over*ll pattern of language use. fn the Nether'lands Anti]}es Islands of Curagao, Aruba and Bonaire, there are at leasi four such languages: 1) Papiament"ri is the universal vernacular, the language that everyone speaks vithin the intimate interactio-qal netvork of the 1oca1 population, mrst of uhom are native speakers. . ?) Outctr has been the offieial language of Curagao since 163t+ when the Duteh mrested eontrol of the island from the Bpanish. Until recently, Dutch lras the required. language of parliamentary d.ebate. It is norr contLucied in Papiamentu, horrever. Dutch eontinues to be the official medium of educatLon (cf. Wooa 1969), but classes are nor+ given 1n the lorrer grades in Papiamentu on an experimental basi.s. 3) $p++ie4, the language of the original Conquistadores trho controlled. the islands from 1l+99 t,o 163h, continued to fi:nction as an important second language dr-rring the early years of Dutch rul,e and faeilitated coruai.rnicati,on anrong a population vhich spoke a variety of $other-tongues: Portuguese, Dutch, the Arawakan language of the islandsr pro-colornbian inhabitants, and several differert West African J-anguages--the precise ident,ities of which are not knovn. fhe spread of Spanish as a seeond language alnong African slaveso d"uring the Dutch era. appears to have been the starting point in the emergence of Papiarnentu as a nev Spanish-based creole (DeBose 19Tr). In mod.ern times, Spanish is used. by Papiamentu speakers mainly for eomnunication with tourists and other visitors from nearby Yenezuela and other Spanish-speaking areas of the Caribbean and is widely taught as a sehool subJect L) Arrgli=}, is widely used^ in tourism and comerce for eormnrnicatj.on irith llnglish-speakers vho do not speak Papiamentu. It is a aaJor school subject and the mother tongue of a colony of Americans ln Aruba. 103 1ol+ An lnelieation of the irnportance of, these four languages is an a.l which appeared in a recent i ssue of ttie newspaper 4gigqq 4i Curacao annor:neing an opening for s uanagerial pOsition requirlng %ffixperience in hotef business I betveen the age of 3o and 50 years; knowledge of Eng1ish, Sparrish, Dut,ch and Papiamentu.tr 'w-hile many Antilleans may lach knovledge of one or another of Lhese forrr languages, the desirability of knoving all four is probably a uni,versally held val-ue. Hhen ve spealc of the speech eommr"mity of the curagao island group, therefore' I're are referring ro the eonununity of persons sho share a. set of values regarding the al-]oeation of a set of linguistic codes, primarily Papiamentuo iluteh, Spanish, and lJnglish, wj.thin a partlcular pattern of ianguage use. ?. -Wlttiam Creole Studies and L+ngYELge TypoloRv A. Sfevart (fg68) nas proposed a "sociolinguistic i.ypo1og4 of national nul-tilingualismr on the basis cf rrhich zury si-iuation cf natj.onal urultilirrguallsm might he charaeterized as consisting of one or &ore dlstinct languages each of vhj-eh is asrigrred to a particular +.ypological category (e'g" creole, and * p*.ti"rfar function*1, label (e.g., siandard, artilicial), StevartIs typological categories religious). off icie.l" .litera.ry, presence or absence of four defining by the ar-e d,eLer.mined. attri"butes; l-. $tanclardizati"-^il, or the extent to :rhich a corlifj.ed set of written normc of aeeeptabili-ty are in force' ?. Aulgllgf, the criLerlon vhich distinguishes langua65es vi1ich are ,,onslaJred trealt by members of the speech community I rbadl from those r,rhich are con$ldered f Cialeets r , tcoruupticn ' speech and so f*r'1;h. l. Historlcit]., the criierior: by vhieh languages thoughi to ha,,'e evcived normal 1y frou some parent language like protolndo-Europeali or proto-Eantu &re distingUished frora those vhich are createrl artificatr]y or thought tq have emerged rather recentl)' fro:n s t-'ontact situation resulting fl'om conrluestr trade or rni grat i on . L rr:+-,rj*r of a connunity of na'rive Speakers!.. v&a+r.Jr, the existence -oasis cf the above criteria is the on typot6SEilaed sr.unmari eed. in f i gure 1 : ,ttre Fi.gure 1" Attribute Qlandar{ AutonomJ Histolici|v +++-ClassicalC : . : ; I + - : Yi-ta}itv I + + Trpu Svrnbol ?::::ni".? Diaiect Creole I) K : ilffll","'l IO', Having specified *rtre inventory of }anguage types in sigrrlfica.nt use vithin the nation ln questiono the description is completed by epeeifying the functional- role of ee,eh language rrithin the speeeh coramunity (e.g., official tsymbol o1), edueational (e), literary (1), school subject (s), international {i), group {g}, religiaus ir), and the relative number ol persons rrho speak each language. }ito class {1) Stet'art places those languages irhich are used by 757[ or more of the population. Class {I1) inctudes languages spoken by at least 5OS of the cormunity. Class (ltf) inctudes languages used by at Least 25f; C1ass (:v), at least 1Of and Class (v), at least 5/, ot the total population. Into Class {Vt) are placed ihose languages spohen by Less than 5$ tut considered important for some other reasons such as use rrithin the context of religious ritual. ?o illustrate his typclory, one of the exa,mples Stevart gives is the language situation in the Curaqao island group of the l*letherlands Ar:tilles {Figure 2}: Figure 2. Ciass I LarlgqAge T1I Fapi arnentu D.rtch V flngl1sir Spanish vI Type and funct"Lon K (a: \t g.spanish) de Sisl (d.: L=Papiauentu) Hebrer.r Latin Crs The designation of Fapieaentu ag (d: H=Spanish) and of Spanish as (d: L-Papia,nentu) is intende<i to captu:re a supposed diglossic relationship betvee* the two languages. I think a. tlore a,ccurate d.escription of the relaticnship between Papiamentu and $panish is captured by designatj.ng the former a Spanish-based cresle since deglossia iuplies that Papi-amentu speekers ad,ilress one another in Spanish for certaln ptrposes fsr $hich Papiaarentu is considered. unsuited. (Ferguson, 1959). $tevart justifiee his cleesification by pointing oui that Spanish once funetioned "as a ful}-fledged literacy alternate to Papiamentu,tr Today, however, Papianrentu speakers 'rrae only Pepia:aentu aJssng themselves for both spoken and rritten purpases and rittrin both for:aal" snd ea$ual contexts. fhe creolist is interested. in the l*"nguage situation in Curagao for what it cen tell hin about the nature and origin of creoles. Papiauentu has traditisnally been considered a Spanish* besed ereole. As such, one might ressonably expeet that by studying Pepianeatu j.t is possible to learn a great d"ea1 '*hich is valid rith respect to X-based creoLes in generel, and that by stu$ring the Curacao speech eomtunlty one night discover certain sociolingulstic r.lniversa).s of creole speeeh cormunities. In order to safely engase in such generalizations, however, it $ust first be eetablished that Fapia-nentu j-s indeed a Spanish-based 1CI6 creole. fhis can be done by co:npiling eyid.ence that Papia.nentu the eonditions of some agreed upsn set of Cefiniti"onal criteria. The trad.iti.or:a1 definj.tion of a creole used by most llnguists today is based on the notion that a creole is a pidgln or tJargont irhich has becone the mother tongue of some group (B1coxof,ield 1933; Ha}1 1956). Alleyne (rgf:") hes noted, hovever, that there is 1itile d.j.rect evid.ence that Papiauentu or any of the other Atlantic erecles are tnativized pi.dginst. In the light of this observation we couJd JoLn Alleyne in concludlng that Paplamentu is nct a creole. Before reaching slch a radicel. conclusion, ho*ever, one might consid.er the alternative conclusion that a creole is not necessarily a tnatlvized pidglnr. One elefinit,ion ol a creole in which the lnativized. pidgin' criterion a.ppea.rs unnece$s&ry could "oe based upon two binary features: Steuart's rLristorlcityt criterion vhich d.istinguishes pidgin, creole and artificial l-anguages fron ell others, and a neu feature, n"a}}ral , virich eould distinguisl: Fts and i{rs fron* Ars. The only remaining difference betveen pldglns and ereol-es Figure 3, shows the is based on the attribute of vitaliiy. these Cistinctions: shich from typologl resul"ts mee'Ls Fig:*e 3. i{atural + + Attrihuie Histo{iei ty vitqllty + On the basis of theae attribuies it can Fapia.arentu is a creole uithout eridcnce ttrai Tvoe Crec I e Pldgin Art i fic ial be established that it is a rnati-rized pidgint. By the sarne set of criteria Haitian Creole, $rarra,n, Crioulo and. other trad.itional creoles &rf, eorrectly classified. Certain other ianguages, treditionally considered pldginsr e&Y also be eorrectly cla$sifie{i by this set of features {*.g., Chinese Pid61n, l,ligerian Pidgin). There are other languages' however, t:'aditionally eonsidered pidgins or creoles shich are not so classified accorCi*g to Stewari.ts tytriology. This typolog'y, it shouid be noted, is concerned only vith the different languages found in a speech conmunity and ignores basilectal, mesolectal, pldglnized. and oiher non-autonorncus styles, registers or lects of ihe larguage ia questi-on, Jamaica ?alk voui'3 noi be considere.d a ilifferent larrguage than EngJ-ish eince ther"e is no tstruciural gapt (Stesarl 1962) separating the creole basilect fron Standard Jamaican English in the vay that Papiamentu is *eparated from Spanish anri Haitian Creole from French. ?ai Bci, spoken 1n Viet l{a.m under the French, is often considered a pidgin {Rej.necke I9T1 ) but is most accurately descritied as a pidgi"nired variety r:f French, French j-nfluenced by French loreigner talk. The or ?brokenrrrr*orking pidginsrt useC by Australian fact,ory norkers so-ca11ed / ^* ^-- \ vould al-so be better *eseriberl as rbrokenr Gerqan 1975) tClyne or English to d.istinguish it from languages like Clrinese Pidg;itt. ' iOT To inclrrtle s*ch entities as tbrokent Xn foreigner talk and. post*ereole varleties into our tyi:o1o6Xr it seems Recessary to add a feature uhich distinguishes differences of lenguage, characterlsiic of the relationslrip of pidgi"ns and creofes to their lexic*f source, fr$il dif,ferences of rrariety nlthin a J-anguage, eharacteristic of rbrokenr X, foreigner talk and postcrer:l.e csntinua. l.Ie may call this featrrre lqng+_ggE. To eomplete our typology r+e must ed.d ttro dynamic features: pi{eiIl.}ff4 and creolizeil on the baeis of which rbrohenf X, foreigner lalk ane post creole varleties ma). be distinguished. Fi4ej.niAqll.qn may be vier+ecl s,s e proeess vhich aecepts norma] X as input and produces rbrokenf X as output. Creo.13zaliqqr on the other hand, may be thought of a,s accepting rbrokenf X *s input anil producing a nev X*based pldgin or ereole as output. Eefore af-tempting to illustrate the ccmplete t;ryolory, a fev teruinol-ogical inconsistencieE require our attentj-on. It rnay have been noted ahove tha.t according to Sterartfs criteria the on1.y difference belween pidgi.ns and creoles is that the tratter have native speakers. llnless rre wish to rrake such a d.istinction re might profitably use the term clqsle to refer to any X-based language, i.rhether or not it has native speakers 'sinee either type is a proCuet oll creolization. Distinctions based o* vitality could still be expreesed as func*-ional subtypes: cre-ole mother teqgqq .{s. ereole liler4+ fr:S4ca. The main conse.{uence of such a deeision i.s that we voul-d have io get used to calling languages like Chinese Pid"gin and }trigerian Pidgin creoles. i^Ie vou1d be free, on ihe other hand, to use the terms pid.gin and pidginized int,erehangeatrly, aE many rs"riters already dou nith no fe&r of ambi"6uity. Feineckets characterization of Ta1 Boi as a pidgin (19?f ) vould be apprr;priate und.er such a convention as would be Hal1ts assertion {f966) that ftalian foreigner talk used by tour guides is a pidgi.n. In the remainder of this iiiscussion the term creol"e will be used ia the sense Just suggested. The effeet of this upan our t;rpo1oil is tiiat the feature r-ritalityf is no longer neeiled.. As l;'i6ure L s]:ovs, a ereole is def ined by the presenee of the attributes rlanguaget and- tcreolizedl. Foreigaer tafk is distinguished from rbroken i X by the presence of tcreolizationr in the for&er and its absence in the latter. Creoles aad foreigner talk are both plus rcreol-izetiont. The former:l-s a language, howevern nhile the latter is not. Fost-creole continua are minus pidgi.nization and minus creolization. Slnce al1 fr:ur tytrres are plus tnaturalt and ninus fhistoricity! this information is not lncluded in the table. Fi gure )+. Attribute Lansuase Pidsinized ..::4..4 Creolized + + Hpe Creole Post-creole + ; ItBrokentt x Foreigner talk 108 3. The Crisin of Creoles Iiaving established a set ef eriteria vhereby creoles, post-ereoles, rbrokenr , aad f*reigner t*1k nay be distlnguislre<l fron one anoiher lre may use the term crPqle llpesqh coqiJ4ity whenerrer orle of thea is a proeinerrt feature of the language situatlon. Such speech conmunities &ay be arranged along a sociolinguistlc continuua representiag various stages in a process beginning i+iti: the spread of X as a second language and terminating in an X'based creole c:' a post-ereole variety o{'X. The problem cf the origin of any particular creole may be concepiualized rithin such a frameuork sn the assr:-mption that if an X-basec. creole is a feature of a 3.anguage situation at sone partieular time (T), then at some earlier time (T-1), in the saae coranuaity, there should be a qontacl si}Jiation iavolvilg the spread of X as a seeond language arnong speakers of one ox Bore different ur:re1e.ted aother tongues. If the creol-e in question has na,tive speakers there uight be an interrrcdiate stage betxeen ? a"rd T-1 in vhieh the creole had no native speakers and furictioued as a lingua franca anong rpeakers cf various mother iongues later replaeed by the creole. It should be noted, iiouever, that in either case" the problea of sc*ourting f,or the energencb of & nelt X-based. language is the same. In both iRstanees, the problem is to aceourL for the transition fron the original contaet situaticn, in nhich the creole dces not exist, tc a suhsequent s+.age in sirieh it does exist, either in the frrnction of a lingua franca or as the mother tongue of some group, Llreolists are far fro* agreement es i,o hor.r the transition from a conteret si"tuation 1,o a cr*ole occurs beyonti. the very general consensus that as the ir':itia1. stage 'r,here must be a mechaniisn isr ccnverting nornal X ir-rto lbrokent X on a large scaLe (i.e., fcr X to be pi"dgi.nized.), The pr*blem of hr::* pidginiaed X beccmes creollzed has produced l'arious prop<;saJs. Bloomfield {fg::} accounts lor the transj.tion by bt*ekir}g eccess to nor&al X for speakers of rbrokent X by $eans oi the invariable use of forelgner talk try native speahers of X vhen !l:ey address non-native speakers. Iiall (fg56) vho eharr*s this vie* cl.aimed that rrThe aboriginal , no't knovi.n6 any better, wculd assule that this {foreigner tafk):,ras the:rhite a.anrs real language, and veuld htrinn<.rm (19?i) also acccr*ats for the delight in using it.t' transitiqn to a ereole by blscking access io ncrnal X. The nechanism he choseeo hovever, ie temovai oi tlre incipient speakers of X frorn any coniacr with nat:ve speakers ol X. if all the incipient speakers spoke t}:e same mother long,ue they vould have n& use fc:: X onse conlaet vit,il *ative speakers was ended. If they spoke several- dillerent nother ti:ngues, tlcwenrer, they mighL eontinue to uce X as a iingua franta. In t.he ab-oence oi native speakers t'o provide rnoilels cf eorrest r.rsag*, the variet;r of X ;poken by incipient bilinguals (ilcbold 1951 ) c'ori1d hec*ne Lnt: nerm transmit'ued to nev speakel's ani cou-Id resu-lt in abrr:pt terrnlltatj.on of iiie continuum vitich previously linked !,ldginized X '"o normal X as speakers of X as s second 1a:rguage aequi::eci inereasi"ng degrees of 1-,roficiency. 109 Whinromrs hypothesis that ilno siuple bilingual situation ever gi.res rise to a pidgin (i.e., creole)tt is supported by ihe fact that Papiamentu emerged from a roultilingual contact situation <ltring the ear of the slave tra,d.e in Curagao and by the fact that during the earl-ier era of Spanish rule the spread of Spanish emong the Cur:agao Indians, vho spoke a single nother tongue, did not resuli in Spanish being pidginized or creolized, but only 1n the use of normal Spanish by the Indiaus (Hartog 1968). During the era of the slave trade hotrever, ue have eviclence of the pidginization of Spanlsh in the report of a Jesuit priest vho visited Curaqao . - -^1 in l-7O4 and. cl"aimed that the slaves &ade uge of rbroirenr Spanlsh (Hartog 1968). This rbrokent $panish a.pparentfy provided input to the process of creolization rhich resulted in Papianentu. The mechanism which brought it about was &pparenlty the frequent necessity for the African slaves, of linguistiee.l).y dlverse backgrourrds, to eormunicate a^ulong thenselves ln Spanish in the absence of native speaker models. ?he Portuguese elenent in Papianentu naSr be accounted. far try nositing the existence, within the linguistie repertoire of the Curaqao straves, of a Portuguese-based cr5o1e related to the c:'eoles spoken in Guinea-Biesaun Cape Yerde and the Gulf of Guinea today. ft eoulcl also be acccunted for by the fact that Portuguess "*as the nrother tongue of the Sephardic Je*s of Curagao, but nuilerous parallels betveen Papia,frentu and the l,Iest A,frican creoles are *iffi-cul.t Lo account for solely on this basis of eontact. i do not vish tc suggest that a Portuguese-based creofe relexified in-Lo Papiamentu, havever, but only to suggest that the tvo languages coexisted vit,h one another for a periad of tine suffieient for the foraer to influence the structure of the latter belore treing replaced by it. Ir. C"o;rclusion The situations in which knovn creoles seem to have corne into being may be summarized for purposes of comparison rdttrin a typologr of creole speech corwrr:nities. By sumariaing and eouparin6 sueh data wi"th hypothetieal situations such as Bloomfieldrs Italking dorn'nr model and l{hinno:af e linguistic hybridization theory, it shoui.d be posslble to develop a uodel of the origin of creoles based upon a so1ld body of enpirical observations which enables us to farnulate hypotheses and correetly esti.nate the probability of itre emergence of nert languages under d.lfferent sete of circurstances. Ad.equate informatlon e.lres.dy exists for a nunber of l-anguages and only needs to be pulled together vithin s. conson framevork. As rre arait the reeults of future research rithin sueh a fra^nevork, ve night venture a fes generalizations of a very tentative nature based upon the resuJts of the present stu{y and other re11 knorrn facts. The first genereJ.ization shlch re night v€nture rith a reasonable degree of confldence is.that most, if not all, siuple bilateral contact situations do not result in nen languages. If ihe group into which X is spreading is an innigrant group such as the Cocoliche speakers in Argentin&, or the Australlan faetory 1lo taorkers, the probability r:f &;rew langua6ge is nil; even if the h*.rr" group uses fo:"eigner talk, s6{ r?€:l.i.r- tle_l- speak sev.rral ,l.il*ierent fiothl:r t.lt:i{ues. ?he enly ki.nd" cf bilaie:.::.1- si,.i;taii*ii lhat s*e:ls'i-o lravr *"ny }ikeJ.ihood *it atl of prcdueing a:1e!r l*ng:'iage is th* kinti. *f eituat,j-ori.for:nd ir: Yiet iia-u under t.he i're*ch where -qufll fartors es ths relarively srri*lil lrrmtrers ili t,he 'lotrjliani grcliltrr, t.:gether wilh pronour:ei:rl raci.ai-, cu.LtLrral and -l ingui st.ic d i.['lercnces, ..ind t.h+ use oi I'orti 6yrtr talk, Crastj-cslly niniriee ihe chances for r.l*re than a ii:ty ::tinorit:,I of ine host pr,.Jru1&lion t,: surpass Lire tbrokent Irench ievel- ol' pr:oficier:c;g. The 1:-irigilrizctl Fr*r:ch which resultec t-r'om *r:ch c$nditiorrs :n i,riet, $s,m, h*wever, i$ a fiuci-l mr=',re like-i-y out**rne of a bil-eteral corilac-t siiuatirx then e new Pr*nch-bascrl e:'ei:.i.e, Even uheo -;l-rc ci:nmrjniry ir';to which X i-s sprea,3ing c*nsisis oi' severei- differerrt n:cthe;: tcngue grsups, t,he tesr:1 [ rai. ni]t he e relrj I,r.nguacc, -'fre.".pr"-if,l ,:f 7t:rt-u6u,isu ifli-,ci a t::t1i-i.iirl.t-u.aJ netlcnal eor*:'.iunit.v .'it: ihe -l"oraer Forir.igue:e r*-1"+::;,. i.i:' |.irqLr1,l lriis not resr'rlieo j.ri any signifj-ca*"L degree r;l r:rrr:1iratjo:-r. -irrg;icn, ilnder sj.mila:r r:onditii:ns :in ilhana lias nci Fro,luil*.i arry EnEii:ihbesed cresle, in thr:se rar..: in$t&nces in vhich rev' ]anfilrageli Ljl-]r*{ir1 throughr:u+" entire rcr.xirruritieE, i1 na.in prere4Lr.isiiri ,*.pp*ilr'* lo b.. t,he ex j j--ei:re :-i rrr-'r"i ::;nrrrL;.qi.'. ir-'; I '-lrl lii L{,t. r'i ( i' ul. i':h :lre Crarrn frr-rm sslra-j.al ,l.illf*rent rrofiriuniiies eaCh r:1- wiii;ir hed pre--'ioueJ-;,. beer-r in ccntaet, vj.1:h sp*akers of sornFr cr)lririon iangua4e X. 1"1:rC.':r' :ir-rcil co:i1t -t i irc , -{ i s :-i yer':j }.ike"i-y r.':*rii*att,: lct' errlci:t icn b-v thc ni:'"' *onntnii-Y *.s a I i irgrra. :'r3l,cr:-, Ir- t,h-' p*r'i"*:-rnr*r:cr rf a l elnguage ad.r-,1,terl as a. I j.nglr* i::?rircil. :.* ciri:-r'aetertl,:'.i.':t:1, r'lri-.rlctij is-.,':e"1)1' r l"*{i i'} :; ha iii- G i e r-:pt i t:t:*1 , l',J: i.l:(' ,::0rlr8.'!ICtl -:' rl :ri-r' i.-la,: ."j itiew r:,:rgnrirr:tir:s vere '*reai::d i ri rhe irast ill:r tre ;-r' titu+*.i-r:;r: -q.l-av"r'ir !,rrd i:.r,-.&rtittly gsrl* i.*-r;ie+-ul i.'; ?-he i.'i';ri rl t::iill-inq iiu;'*pe;rr:*bn.:lr.:.j {r:rlrl !'lr.: ' tr t'{*::i .t fric:l anJ t he I'J'.:t^' i{r.rrl d " l'ir:-r"r :'ec j:r:"i.,'. rr, t-v . rli i'l'trel:t" -i.rirtr-io*:; ir.r Al'I'1cer t:r*ilr i:i1lltsiir.it ie* ,,,f iilil:ear lc h*vr b:.:en crr:sie,l aro*1d the m:i .rring iti:3ur:t::'if . F*lan4ia.L+, *r { j ir}ir:n iiai-f :i.r', 1"rr +:xa:rple, aecordi:rg ic iiancock { i??f ) i= "a pi l;iri: zei. iiii* Br:p]-*yefl *jr 1Blgran-L AiriLr.,l":r $iile id+ri:-ei'* arourd- .-;ch-srrlesburg. il In tire fi:rmer B*lgia.ri C.::rigo" i::* ie '.re1o;:netl*r' <;t- the 1!5pl4yi|,{tr 4e Sqlts-S"t"" + irrvcl-veC 'i,ir. r.-',:rtijtmeni +f '-i r-u11,i iir.;11".1 l.ablr f.+:'c,: :-+nd wa= e key laci;:r i* 1;l:e sp::tad *l d:iEi:"jei e p:C;:irii:re* lrariel,{ r:i' 3lrrihi.i i in the l:a*r.1nqa n-i ttitrq r'-Ir riitj.qiil. irsu$!ir {t'o1,:n6 l9"i ). Tiar:c,.:k (f g:: ) a.f sc rr,r,r)ri.s r.}rir-{. :ai1cd -lar-ika:r-i.i l_lrl up aroulri. ihc Er:r*peiL* t:rrl'irrii.e ic ricrrthern i:i i::". itlr:rr::':j li:;'c*::,:* I.lig*rla *rd vas u;;ed a.: e ifllEg_Iiqlrjl s.intltim(]:; i;atr3hi r';'r Elgli*h*speak*rF to spea'kerl; oi '-ii','r'rs+ ii i re:-ia:r 1.,rifiu?[:o:i ,tl i1, ril:;*t,i L: ;-;r:::ih,1e t,c ii,ld grer.ri!y t,; ?t3. .i;ni.rlricrlg* ci i:or^r a-re{:..i-eLr c,>rie ilri.c b=iilg by ;tu.jyir:g tlie -11:,;'.;lrr;1r'.:i;r:ati.r-:ns it'r ner conmurji;les:qhich nii-rht hre lound in vilrl+ug i:arl:,-:l'i:he ui:r1ri *Lr-ial.r anit 1"hcat whlch ni ghl tie rert,lnslrullr:tl l:'cl; kn',a e.tgr: ol e:reris anij- clrr:ums'i:.?r':ite:: :ghith lrrageCed tftt ':i:r+rgertct- cI' *:ti:t-rrp-' cre*].cs. f;uch l j,.1.,;-ral,.iolrs wcr.:ld be expecteC tit lie et somt' poini a.i-onq tL cot:-iinr:ul,: i;il.Lwtr:rr iva p'':r1es. At ol=.ixtreme t'liere slcr It . - ' 111 ineipient speahers of X as a seeond. language vho use it as a 1i:rgua franca, but no speakers of any ner language based. on X, A,t the other pole, the new X-based language has replaced the ori.ginal substrate langu*ges and eliminated. the need for a lingrra franca once filled by X. The o1d European-based languages like Papiaruentu, Krio, Nigerian and Haitian Creole 1ie at the latter end of the continuum, and provide no d.irect evidenee of how sueh languages develop. In many areas of Afriea, horever, and other parts of the vorld. yhere multillngualism is rife and fcrces of nationalism, urbanization and mod"ernizatlon are 6iving impetus to increased communication across linguistic lines, ib sho:-rld. be possible to find nelr multilingual cormnrnities at various pcints along the continuurs. By studying such cormunities firsthand it should be possible to document the process vhereby nev X-based languages eome into being and spreail. Footnote *I am grateful to the Committee for Comparative study of Afrlca and the ^Amerieas, for funds'to visit Curagao during July and ,{ugust cf f973, and to the Ford Foundation for fuading a second trip in Deeember 19?L and for the firnd.ing of the completion of uy dj.ssertation of whicb the present paper is a by-product. Beferences Aghey:si, Rebecca ll. 1971. West Afriean Pidgin EngLi-sh: Si"nplificati,on and. Si,ntplieity. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford. University. Alleyne, Mervyn C. 1971. Acculturation and the cultural uatrix of Creolization. fn Ilynes (ed. ) , 159-86. Bickertcrn, De::ek' 1973. t.t1e naiure c:1- a creole eontiriurrn. Language h9:6\0-69. Bloomfield, Leonard. 1933. Language. Ner York: Ho1t, Ilineha::t and ltrinston, Clyne, M. G. L975. German and English rorking Pidginsr Paper presented at the lnternational Congrese on Pidgins and Creoles, Honolulu. DeBose, Charles E. L975. Papiunenkt: A Spanieh*based Creole, Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University. l)eCampn David. 19Tf. fovard a generative analysis of a postCreole speeeh eontinuuln. In llymes (ed. ), 3\9-3?0, Diebold, A. Richard. 195f. Incipi-ent bilingualisn. Language 37 :97-LL2 - Ferguson, Cn-arles A, L959. Digtrossia . Word 1r:325-LC. 1955. l{ational sociolinguistic profile formulas. In William Bright (ed.), Soeiolinguistice, 309*2L. The Hague: Mouton. L"L2 . 19?1. Absenee of eopula and the notion of sirnpll,clty: A stud.y of normaL speech, baby talk' foreigner ta)-k, and l:idgln. In iiyues (ed. ), l-l+1-1ro. iiali, Itobert A. 1965. Pi.dgin and CreoZe Languages. lthaca: Cornell Universlty Press' !{aneock, lan I. }9?1. A survey of the Pidgias and CreoLes of the worLd. In llgrnes (ec. ) , 509-23. iiartog, Dr. .I. 1958. Curaeao: Fram Colonial Dependenee to Autoromy. Aruba: DeWi.t , foc. grmes, De11, (ecl. ). 19?1. Pidginization and Ct'eoli.zati.on of Languages. London: Canbridge University Press. Po1ca6, Edga". i971. The Katanga (lutr:ntasni) Svahi.li Creole. In llymes (ed. ), 57-6a. \ Reinecke, iohn l'1. 19?]. Tdy B6i: llotes on the Pidgln l'reneh spoken in Vietnam. In Eymes (ed.)' V->e. Stewart, WiJ-1iara A. L962. Creole languages in the Cari-bbean. In Frank L. Rice (ed. )n A Study of *he RoLe of Secand ldashi.ngton, D.C.: Langunges in Asia, Africa and Latin Ameriea. Center for ApPlied Linguistics. 1968. A sociolinguistic typology for describin6 national multilingualism. In Joshue A. Fishman {ea. ), Readir,"gs in the Sociolagy of Langu*ges, 531--!5. The Hague: Mouton. lJhinnom, Kei-tlr. 1971. Llnguistic hybrldization' In :{ymes (e,1. ), 91-116. Wil-son, W. A, A. L962, The Cri,oulo of, Guine. Johannesbur6: l{itvatersrand Universi.ty Press. l,ioo.1 , Richard E. L969. Lin6,:istic problems _in the ]tetherlancis Anti-l-les . Monda Linguc-Prcblemo l:7i-86. Neophilogus 55:r8-3c. . fgT2b. The Hispanization Papi"rsentu. Hispani.a 'i5:857..6\ . - of a Creole language: