A Creole origin for Barlovento Spanish? A linguistic and sociohistorical inquiry

Abstract

McWhorter challenges the validity of the limited access model for creole formation, noting that “the mainland Spanish colonies put in question a model which is crucial to current creole genesis.” His thesis is that in the Spanish mainland colonies the disproportion between the Black and White populations was enough for the emergence of a creole language. This article focuses on one colony, Venezuela, and argues that Africans there had as much access to Spanish as they did in islands such as Cuba. Based on this fact, the relevant linguistic evidence is analyzed. The most important contribution of this study is the discussion of the Spanish crown's monopolization of the slave trade, which kept the Black/White ratio relatively low in certain Spanish colonies until the end of the 18th century. Until now, this part of the puzzle has been absent in the discussion of the missing Spanish creoles.

Afro-Peruvian Spanish

“…In fact, the demographic disproportions between Africans and Spaniards in colonial Venezuela were not as radically marked as McWhorter indicates; rather, many of the individuals that he classifies as "Africans" were actually mixed-race people born in the colony, who, in all likelihood, could speak Spanish natively. Díaz-Campos and Clements (2008) also show that the Black/White ratio was relatively low in Venezuela due the Spanish Crown's monopolization of the slave trade, which placed serious constraints on the introduction of an African workforce into the colony, thus indirectly reducing the probability of Spanish creole formation in the region.…”

“…Indeed, it has to be said that McWhorter does not offer much socio-historical evidence to back his hypothesis. Díaz-Campos and Clements (2008) provide data showing that the account McWhorter suggests for the Venezuelan case does not reflect the reality of the facts. In fact, the demographic disproportions between Africans and Spaniards in colonial Venezuela were not as radically marked as McWhorter indicates; rather, many of the individuals that he classifies as "Africans" were actually mixed-race people born in the colony, who, in all likelihood, could speak Spanish natively.…”

“…As far as the Venezuelan case is concerned, Díaz-Campos and Clements (2005Clements ( , 2008 have shown that the linguistic features mentioned by Álvarez and Obediente (1998) in relation to a potential creole origin for Barlovento Spanish can also be found in a number of rural dialects, thus indicating that they should not necessarily be seen as creole indicators. Moreover, the authors have shown that, in contrast to McWhorter's (2000) predictions, colonial Barlovento was not the perfect place for creole formation.…”

Afro-Peruvian Spanish in the context of Spanish Creole Genesis

“…Lipski 2000Lipski , 2005Díaz-Campos & Clements 2005, 2008etc.). Even though McWhorter's effort to provide a unified framework to account for creole genesis has generally been praised (cf.…”

Non-Creole Features in the Verb System of Afro-Hispanic Languages: New Insights from SLA Studies

“…This has been partially carried out by some scholars and will not be presented here due to space limitations (cf. Lipski 1993;Díaz-Campos & Clements 2008, Sessarego 2011. Nevertheless, in the current article, I would like to focus on two common features, which have been repeatedly mentioned in relation to a potential creole origin, and appear to characterize these Spanish dialects transversely: (a) Use of non-emphatic, non-contrastive overt subjects; (b) lack of subject-verb agreement.…”