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The decreolization process observed in the creole continuum of Belize, Central America is examined in relation to the extralinguistic factor of ethnicity. The speech patterns of Creole speakers are analyzed in terms of two distinct types of ethnic contact, namely, intragroup communication vs. interaction with Black Caribs. Decreolization is viewed as a code-switching phenomenon which affects all native speakers of creole without implying a unified progression toward the acrolect (English). Special attention is given to: 1) intraindividual variability which is found to span the whole continuum in intragroup contexts, but to be restricted to mesolectal varieties in intergroup situations; and 2) the relative significance of the five morphosyntactic variables selected to measure decreolization. These features follow distinctive overall patterns of co-occurrence. However, the mesolectal bloc, when viewed in detail, discloses an internal complexity which defies scaling of linguistic features, and reveals the influence of conflicting social and psychological pressures. (Creole studies; ethnic interaction; sociolinguistics; code-switching.)

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