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Description:
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Since creole languages draw their properties from both their substrate and
superstrate sources, the typological classification of creoles has long been a
major issue for creolists, typologists, and linguists in general. Several
contradictory proposals have been put forward in the literature. For example,
creole languages typologically pair with their superstrate languages
(Chaudenson 2003), with their substrate languages (Lefebvre 1998), or even,
creole languages are alike (Bickerton 1984) such that they constitute a
“definable typological class” (McWhorter 1998). This book contains 25
chapters bearing on detailed comparisons of some 30 creoles and their
substrate languages. As the substrate languages of these creoles are
typologically different, the detailed investigation of substrate features
in the
creoles leads to a particular answer to the question of how creoles should be
classified typologically. The bulk of the data show that creoles reproduce the
typological features of their substrate languages. This argues that creoles
cannot be claimed to constitute a definable typological class.
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