Linguistic Hybridization in the Emergence of Creoles

Abstract

In this article I show how ubiquitous hybridity is in cultures. It is enabled by layers of population movements and contacts since the dispersal of Homo sapiens out of Africa around 50,000 years ago. I demonstrate how hybridization has proceeded in the emergence of creole language varieties and show that the same process has also driven, for instance, the emergence and differential evolution of English and the speciation of Vulgar Latin into the Romance languages. Differences in outcomes are determined by the specificities of the contact ecologies, including population structure, differences in the demographic proportions of the populations in contact and power relations between them, as well as patterns of population growth, among other factors. I argue that hybridity is not unique to languages. It is conspicuous in other domains of culture, including cuisine, music, clothing fashions, and technologies, for example. I submit a uniformitarian approach inspired by evolutionary biology to better understand how hybridization occurs.

Hybridization of the standard language: acceptance and definition

“…Ample cercetări au fost făcute de către savanții preocupați de formarea unui limbaj comun din colonii și de savanții preocupați de evoluția limbilor romanice. Conform romaniștilor, în provinciile romanice vorbitorii au trecut de la limbile indigene la limba latină, astfel influențând substratul [1]. Prin urmare, studiul fenomenului hibridizării și al factorilor care influențează modificările limbajului standard nu este unul nou.…”

Linguistic Reconstruction of Post-Colonial South Africa and Lesotho: English Dominance Dilemma

“…One such area where the full might of the colonizers was strongly felt was on Africa's rich linguistic heritage that was destroyed and replaced with the colonizers' languages [2]. The linguistic destruction was due to the colonizers' negative attitudes towards non-Europeans languages which they labelled as "jargons", "savage", and "primitive" and their speakers whom they deemed mentally inferior and uncivilized [3] coming from the "Dark Continent" characterized by tribal conflicts [4]. Hence today some parts of Africa are distinguished by the languages of their colonizers which has resulted in the so-called Francophone and Anglophone countries.…”

Why this text? Why now? A response to Flores and Rosa

“…The ways in which the 19th-century European imperialism was achieved by dismissing Africans' cultural traditions, beliefs, political and economic organizations, and languages have been well documented. So have its accompanying language ideologies according to which African languages are simple or childlike and iconize the putative 'mental inferiority' of their speakers (Mufwene, 2001(Mufwene, , 2023.…”