Creole prosody

Abstract

Advances in the study of the prosody of Atlantic Creole languages have revealed prosodic systems, in which the traditional division into prosodic types like stress, pitch-accent and tone languages appears to be blurred: We find typologically mixed systems that unite features from two, even three of these types (cf. e.g. Alleyne 1980, Berry 1971, Devonish 1998, 2002; Faraclas 1987; Finney 2004; Fyle 1971; Good 2004, 2006; Jones 1990; Rivera Castillo 1998; Rivera Castillo and Faraclas 2005; Rountree 1972a). For example, Papiamentu (Dutch Antilles) has been described as a language that uses both stress and tone (Rivera Castillo 1998) and Nigerian Pidgin as a language that employs stress, pitch-accent and tone (Faraclas 1984; 1996). Additionally, many of these languages, e.g. Pichi (Yakpo 2009) and Santomense (Maurer 2008), appear to feature a stratified lexicon, in which individual words are classified as pitch-accented or tonal. Mixed systems appear to be particularly common with Creoles that have maintained a considerable African lexical component and thrived in relative isolation from non-tonal languages such as Saramaccan in Surinam (Good 2004, 2006) and the Portuguese-lexifier Creoles of the Gulf of Guinea islands like Santomense (Maurer 2008) and Fa d’Ambo (Post 1994). Mixed systems are also found with virtually all English-lexifier Creoles of West Africa – hence languages which are in direct contact with tone languages. In the latter group, we find languages like Krio (e.g. Finney 2004), Nigerian Pidgin (Faraclas 1996) and Pichi (Yakpo 2009). The evidence is gathering that residual tone systems also typify languages that had previously been assumed to exhibit pure stress or pitch-accent systems, for example African American Vernacular English (e.g. Spears 2008) and Sranan (Smith & Adamson 2006). It therefore remains to be seen whether the prosodic systems of the French-lexifier Atlantic Creoles are also as ‘toneless’ as they are commonly assumed to be (cf. e.g. Brousseau 2003 for Haitian Creole). Mixed prosodic systems are not only highly unusual from a typological perspective. They also point to the intrinsically mixed character of Creole languages in general. Like in other structural areas, we seem to find the usual mix of substrate, lexifier and universal-typological forces at play in the design of these prosodic systems. In this session, I will first present an overview of prosodic typology by relying descriptions of the the prosodic systems of a number of Atlantic Creole languages. Secondly, I will present a detailed analysis of the mixed prosodic system of Pichi, the English-lexifier Creole of Equatorial Guinea by drawing on field data. Participants are highly welcome to refer to and present their own ongoing work on Creole prosody during discussions.