Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages - Volume 1, Issue 2, 1986

Afro-Hispanic language is attested from the 15th century to the early 20th century in Spain, Africa, and Latin America. The speech of bozales (slaves born in Africa and speaking Spanish only imperfectly) has frequently been used as evidence for monogenetic theories of Hispanic Creole formation, based on structural parallels and possibly Afro-Portuguese roots. The present study reviews the principal Afro-Hispanic manifestations over a period of more than 300 years, and traces those structures most frequently cited in monogenetic Afro-Iberian theories. The overall conclusion is that, while such cases as Papiamentu, Colombian Palenquero, and 19th century Cuban/Puerto Rican bozal language point to common origins or mutually shared influences, most other Afro-Hispanic language forms suggest merely imperfect learning and incipient pidginiza-tion which arose spontaneously each time Spanish and African languages came into contact.

The verb 'be' in Pidgin Sango is an innovation, for vernacular Sango has no copula. The development in Sango had important grammatical consequences. It is argued, with data both from Ngbandi and Kituba, that the most likely source of this verb is some form of Kikongo, which went through the process of pidginization in the nineteenth century.

Bickerton (1984a) is a recent exposition of the language bioprogram hypothesis (henceforth LBH), which seeks to account for similarities in Creole grammars in "the structure of a species-specific program for language" that is relatively unaffected by input from pre-existing languages. The validity of this claim depends on both the circumstances of creole origins and the nature of the putative similarities, and on both counts the LBH has been attacked. My purpose here is to examine these two issues and to suggest briefly some areas in which the LBH might be tested or expanded.