An Introduction to Pidgins and Creoles

by John Holm

Overview

This textbook is a clear and concise introduction to the study of how new languages come into being. Starting with an overview of the field's basic concepts, it surveys the new languages that developed as a result of the European expansion to the Americas, Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Long misunderstood as "bad" versions of European languages, today such varieties as Jamaican Creole English, Haitian Creole French and New Guinea Pidgin are recognized as distinct languages in their own right.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521584609
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	08/17/2000
Series:	Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics
Pages:	308
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.90(d)
Lexile:	1530L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

List of tables; Preface; Abbreviations and symbols; Maps; 1. Introduction; 2. The development of theory; 3. Social factors; 4. Lexicosemantics; 5. Phonology; 6. Syntax; 7. Conclusions; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"This book is well written, clear, and accessible to students with a minimum of linguistics background, and in all it covers well what it sets out to discuss." Studies in Second Language Acquisition

"Holm has worked on these languages for the best part of three decades, and this is apparent in the width and scope of his research." Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development

From the Publisher

Building on his earlier volumes for the series, , volumes I and II, Holm (U. of Coimbra, Portugal) presents the most important information relating to spoken languages that fall between two officially recognized languages. He argues that while universal tendencies in adult second-language acquisition carries over into pidginization and creolization, such as dropping inflection, there are a significant number of features that are not attributable to a creole language's superstrate and can be traced to parallel features in its substrate languages. He draws mainly on English-based Atlantic creoles of the Caribbean and west Africa. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews