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Is English a creole? (was: Indo-European Studies)
Cameron Laird (claird@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM)
20 Jul 1995 08:45:46 -0500
In article <3u6mijINN5bo@hpsdlmc1.sdd.hp.com>,
Gerold Firl <geroldf@sdd.hp.com> wrote:
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>Don't creole languages generally have a simplified syntax compared to the
>languages from which they were formed? The IE languages, aside from
>english, which can be considered a creole, seem very structured to me. On
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'Long time ago, I, too, learned that English is a creole.
Over the last five years, though, sci.lang scholars con-
vinced me to re-read some of the recent research on the
topic, and I see how little likelihood there is to this.
English *is* an outlier in some ways, some of which
(skimpy declension, for example) do remind one of creoles.
However, there's apparently good evidence that the develop-
mentail trends leading to these characters were already
underway *before* the Anglo-Norman kingdoms provided the
political and economic stage one would think necessary
for criollization. Moreover, some of the same secular
changes are attested for Norse and other little-related
tongues.
This comes up often enough that someone should put it in
the FAQ. I don't know the literature well enough to take
on the job. If someone does sketch the argument, I'll
make it available on a fast FTP site, at least until it
joins the FAQ.
--
Cameron Laird http://starbase.neosoft.com/~claird/home.html
claird@Neosoft.com +1 713 267 7966
claird@litwin.com +1 713 996 8546 FAX
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