Linguistic simplicity and complexity : why do languages undress? /
McWhorter, John H.
Linguistic simplicity and complexity : why do languages undress? / by John H. McWhorter. - Boston : De Gruyter Mouton, 2011. - 1 online resource (x, 335 pages) - Language contact and bilingualism ; 1 . - Language contact and bilingualism ; 1. .
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Machine generated contents note: I. Creole exceptionalism -- Introduction to Section I -- 1. The creole prototype revisited and revised -- 2.Comparative complexity: What the creolist learns from Cantonese and Kabardian -- 3. Reconstructing creole: Has "Creole Exceptionalism" been seriously engaged? -- II. Creole complexity -- Introduction to Section II -- 4. Oh, noo!: emergent pragmatic marking from a bewilderingly multifunctional word -- 5. Hither and thither in Saramaccan Creole -- 6.Complexity hotspot: The copula in Saramaccan -- III. Exceptional language change elsewhere -- Introduction to Section III -- 7. Why does a language undress? The Riau Indonesian problem -- 8. Affixless in Austronesian: Why Flores is a puzzle and what to do about it -- 9.A brief for the Celtic Hypothesis: English in Box 5?
In John McWhorter's Defining Creole anthology of 2005, his collected articles conveyed the following theme: His hypothesis that creole languages are definable not just in the sociohistorical sense, but in the grammatical sense. His publications since the 1990s have argued that all languages of the world that lack a certain three traits together are creoles (i.e. born as pidgins a few hundred years ago and fleshed out into real languages). He also argued that in light of their pidgin birth, such languages are less grammatically complex than others, as the result of their recent birth as pidgins. These two claims have been highly controversial among creolists as well as other linguists. In this volume, Linguistic Simplicityand Complexity, McWhorter gathers articles he has written since then, in the wake of responses from a wide range of creolists and linguists. These articles represent a considerable divergence in direction from his earlier work.
9781934078402 (e-book) 1934078409 (e-book) (alk. paper) (alk. paper) (pbk. ; alk. paper) (pbk. ; alk. paper)
Complexity (Linguistics)
Second language acquisition.
Languages in contact.
Complexité (Linguistique)
Langue seconde--Acquisition.
Langues en contact.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDY--Creole Languages.
Complexity (Linguistics)
Languages in contact.
Second language acquisition.
Kreolische Sprachen.
Komplexität.
Sprache.
Sprachkontakt.
Komplexität.
Sprachkontakt.
Sprachwandel.
Kreolische Sprachen.
Complexity.
Creole languages.
Pidgin languages.
Language contact.
Kreolspråk.
Andraspråksinlärning.
Electronic books.
Electronic books.
P128.C664 / M39 2011eb
417/.22
Linguistic simplicity and complexity : why do languages undress? / by John H. McWhorter. - Boston : De Gruyter Mouton, 2011. - 1 online resource (x, 335 pages) - Language contact and bilingualism ; 1 . - Language contact and bilingualism ; 1. .
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Machine generated contents note: I. Creole exceptionalism -- Introduction to Section I -- 1. The creole prototype revisited and revised -- 2.Comparative complexity: What the creolist learns from Cantonese and Kabardian -- 3. Reconstructing creole: Has "Creole Exceptionalism" been seriously engaged? -- II. Creole complexity -- Introduction to Section II -- 4. Oh, noo!: emergent pragmatic marking from a bewilderingly multifunctional word -- 5. Hither and thither in Saramaccan Creole -- 6.Complexity hotspot: The copula in Saramaccan -- III. Exceptional language change elsewhere -- Introduction to Section III -- 7. Why does a language undress? The Riau Indonesian problem -- 8. Affixless in Austronesian: Why Flores is a puzzle and what to do about it -- 9.A brief for the Celtic Hypothesis: English in Box 5?
In John McWhorter's Defining Creole anthology of 2005, his collected articles conveyed the following theme: His hypothesis that creole languages are definable not just in the sociohistorical sense, but in the grammatical sense. His publications since the 1990s have argued that all languages of the world that lack a certain three traits together are creoles (i.e. born as pidgins a few hundred years ago and fleshed out into real languages). He also argued that in light of their pidgin birth, such languages are less grammatically complex than others, as the result of their recent birth as pidgins. These two claims have been highly controversial among creolists as well as other linguists. In this volume, Linguistic Simplicityand Complexity, McWhorter gathers articles he has written since then, in the wake of responses from a wide range of creolists and linguists. These articles represent a considerable divergence in direction from his earlier work.
9781934078402 (e-book) 1934078409 (e-book) (alk. paper) (alk. paper) (pbk. ; alk. paper) (pbk. ; alk. paper)
Complexity (Linguistics)
Second language acquisition.
Languages in contact.
Complexité (Linguistique)
Langue seconde--Acquisition.
Langues en contact.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDY--Creole Languages.
Complexity (Linguistics)
Languages in contact.
Second language acquisition.
Kreolische Sprachen.
Komplexität.
Sprache.
Sprachkontakt.
Komplexität.
Sprachkontakt.
Sprachwandel.
Kreolische Sprachen.
Complexity.
Creole languages.
Pidgin languages.
Language contact.
Kreolspråk.
Andraspråksinlärning.
Electronic books.
Electronic books.
P128.C664 / M39 2011eb
417/.22