Convergence in South Asia: A creole example
1979; Elsevier BV; Volume: 48; Issue: 2-3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/0024-3841(79)90005-6
ISSN1872-6135
Autores Tópico(s)Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
ResumoSri Lanka Portuguese (SLP), an Indo-Portuguese creole, exhibits a pattern of convergence typical of South Asia. Fifteen aspects of morphology and syntax are discussed to demonstrate the structural similarity between the Batticaloa dialects of SLP and Tamil. A comparison with other dialects of SLP and with other languages of South Asia reveals that the origins of these convergence traits are not recent and may in some cases stem from the earliest period of Portuguese contacts with the region. Thus, previous documentation of SLP, and possibly of other forms of Indo-Portuguese too, could not have represented any colloquial variety. Some aspects of the convergence in SLP cannot properly be termed pidginization or creolization but are better referred to as realignment. Different types of convergence, however, are not fundamentally different processes, since they have a common source in the interference mechanism. At the root of the extreme convergence in SLP and in other non-creole South Asian languages is extensive and intensive bi- or multilingualism in the context of language maintenance. By comparison, early Indo-Aryan shows considerably less convergence; this may be due to the fact that it developed in the context of language shift rather than maintenance.
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