Creolization: Its Context, Power, and Meaning

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the very early period of creole development, that is, the seventeenth and eighteenth century. The field of creolistics is currently focused around three important theoretical issues. First, creolists do not all agree on the sociolinguistic developmental paths that lead to the creation of creoles. Second, creolists are still investigating the linguistic lineage of creoles, including their relationship to superstrate and substrate languages from which they develop. Finally, the last important debate concerns the typological status of creoles. Creolization does not take place in each and every type of cultural or linguistic contact, but in hegemonical social contexts where three contributing factors exist: multilingualism, absence of a language that could be used as a lingua franca, and sustained but unequal power relationships between people in contact. An additional factor that informs creole development is efficiency.