1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910783064103321

Autore

Holm John A.

Titolo

An introduction to pidgin and creoles / / John Holm

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2000

ISBN

1-107-11405-5

9786612388972

1-282-38897-5

0-511-64277-6

1-139-16415-5

0-511-15306-6

0-511-55589-X

0-511-05412-2

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xxi, 282 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Collana

Cambridge textbooks in linguistics

Disciplina

417/.22

Soggetti

Creole dialects

Pidgin languages

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 241-266) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Cover; Half-title; Series-title; Title; Copyright; CONTENTS; PREFACE; TABLES; ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS; Dedication; 1 Introduction; 2 The development of theory; 3 Social factors; 4 Lexicosemantics; 5 Phonology; 6 Syntax; 7 Conclusions; REFERENCES; INDEX

Sommario/riassunto

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. John Holm examines the structure of these pidgins and creoles, the social history of their speakers, and the theories put forward to explain how their vocabularies, sound systems and grammars evolved. His new findings on structural typology, including non-Atlantic creoles,



permit a wide-ranging assessment of the nature of restructured languages worldwide. This much-needed book will be welcomed by students and researchers in linguistics, sociolinguistics, western European languages, anthropology and sociology.