Re: Is English a creole? (was: Indo-European Studies)

James Walker (seumas@vnet.ibm.com)
Mon, 31 Jul 1995 14:11:00 GMT

In <3vheci$oks@nuscc.nus.sg>, ellgupta@leonis.nus.sg (Anthea F Gupta) writes:
>Glynis Baguley (gmb@natcorp.ox.ac.uk) wrote:
>: In article <DCADII.Bqx@austin.ibm.com> seumas@vnet.ibm.com (James Walker) writes:
>: >
>: > This analysis completely ignores the language-contact situation prior to
>: > the Norman invasion: the viking invasions and the establishment of the
>: > Danelaw (viking-occupied England) in the 9th century. This, more than
>: > the French occupation, is likely to have led to the levelling of grammatical
>: > paradigms, because the "Danes" and the Anglo-Saxons in these areas
>: > would have been in intimate and prolonged contact and would have
>: > been intermarrying, a situation that did not hold with the later French-
>: > speaking nobility.
>
>: Is this known for certain? Was there really no intermarriage between
>: the Normans and the English? Why not? This seems somewhat implausible.

I can't cite specific sources offhand, but check out Thomason and Kaufman
(1988), which was cited earlier in this thread, and possibly Barbara Strang's
(1970?) _A History of English_. There was a large social gap between the
occupying Normans, who constituted the nobility, scholars and clerics, and
the Anglo-Saxons, who were the farmers, peasants, and soldiers.

>It's a question of numbers. The Normans were few in number & of
>generally higher social class. It's what happens among the toiling
>masses that matters....

The numbers may not matter. In language-contact situations, a small number
of speakers can exert a disproportionate influence. What seems to me to be
more important is the status of the group and its relationship to "the toiling
masses".

James
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James Walker, Toronto Information Development, IBM Canada
Alternate address: 061297@acadvm1.uottawa.ca
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Disclaimer: The above views are mine, not those of IBM.