Languages in Contact: The Partial Restructuring of Vernaculars (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Languages in contact: The partial restructuring of vernaculars by John Holm Don E. Walicek Languages in contact: The partial restructuring of vernaculars. By John Holm. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Pp. xvi, 175. ISBN 0521430518. $75 (Hb). This text focuses on the description of five partially restructured varieties (hereafter PRVs): African American English, Afrikaans, Brazilian Portuguese, Réunion French, and Caribbean Spanish. Holm identifies these languages as ‘semi-creoles’, but prefers to call them ‘partially restructured languages’. Ch. 1 provides an overview of previous scholarship on each of the PRVs. It is the result of, as well as a summary of, the author’s development of a workable theoretical model for partial restructuring. These efforts entail describing the genesis and synchronic morphosyntax of a number of PRVs, comparing results across varieties, and exploring the possible relationship between the social history of speakers and linguistic outcome. Ch. 2 begins with a synthesis of various linguists’ views about the role of demographic ratios in restructuring. Its main argument is that partial restructuring is a sociolinguistic process best understood when attention is given to both social and linguistic phenomena. The bulk of the chapter consists of descriptions of the sociolinguistic settings from which each of the five PRVs emerged. These accounts include maps, charts, and tables that describe the populations in which restructuring took place. Chs. 3 and 4 describe the verb phrase and noun phrase, respectively. As H explains it, the structure of the verb phrase plays a central role in distinguishing creole and noncreole varieties. Concerning the noun phrase, the author makes the point that the inflectional morphology of the noun phrase in European source languages is ‘considerably reduced’ in partially restructured languages. To support this assertion, H describes number, gender, possession, and pronouns in each of the PRVs. The next chapter presents a discussion of clause structure (i.e. word order and dependent clauses). In addition to offering general descriptions, the author looks at newer PRVs alongside older ones. He also compares word order for declarative sentences in the PRVs with that of their Western European superstrates and Niger-Congo substrates. Ch. 6, the book’s conclusion, bridges Ch. 2 with Chs. 3–5 by accounting for the origins of partial restructuring and its effect on language structure. Social factors and linguistic factors are discussed separately. Concerning the former, H makes a number of generalizations about the origins of unrestructured, partially restructured, and restructured varieties. He identifies the demographic balance as a social factor that led the five PRVs treated in the book to emerge as distinct from both creoles and their source languages. The author finds it more difficult to make generalizations about linguistic factors, but does provide a detailed summary of morphosyntactic changes that characterize partial restructuring across varieties. This book succeeds both in provoking important questions and in offering intelligent answers. The manner in which H presents information conveys a sense of excitement about interdisciplinary research, collaboration with fellow linguists, and linguistic enquiry in general. Organized, well written, and insightful, this volume will certainly be appreciated by linguists with interests in creole studies, contact linguistics, and sociohistorical linguistics. Don E. Walicek University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Copyright © 2006 Linguistic Society of America