This course focuses English-based pidgin and creole systems, with a special emphasis on how variation is quantified in these contact varieties. Sociolinguistic inquiry has traditionally focused on English dialects, a fact that has major implications for the theories that form the basis of the variationist paradigm. How do social factors impact speech patterns in post-colonial communities typified by language contact? Are social factors constructed in the same fashion, and how does language change proceed in these communities? Our consideration of these questions will rely on work that investigates variation and change in pidgins and creoles—languages that are born from social and economic disparity—and what impact these findings have on broader sociolinguistic theory. The study of creoles is centred in the broader sociolinguistic enterprise by assessing theories surrounding the social embeddedness (e.g., the post-creole continuum, social variation) and genesis of creoles (e.g., bioprogram hypothesis, gradualist theories). In pursuit of these goals, thorough discussion will be made of and data will be analysed from a number of creole varieties, including (but not limited to) Hawaiʻi Creole, Bislama, Jamaican Creole, and Tok Pisin.
- Lehrende(r): James Grama