Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages - Volume 17, Issue 2, 2002

This paper describes variation in the grammar of aspect in Guyanese Creole. In particular, the various grammaticalized strategies for conveying ha-bituality, progressivity and imperfectivity are discussed. The paper contributes to an ongoing debate regarding the function of various preverbal markers and their interrelationships (see Bickerton, 1975; Edwards, 1984; Gibson, 1988; Ja-ganauth, 1994; Rickford, 1987; Winford, 1993a). Choice of preverbal marker is shown to be strongly conditioned by the stativity of the predicate (in the case of habituals). Drawing on the insights of Weinreich (1953), it is suggested that partial congruence between relatively independent grammatical systems encourages recurrent interlingual identifications.

This paper presents a comparative study of two Indo-Portuguese creoles, Korlai Creole Portuguese (KP) and Daman Creole Portuguese (DP). Using recently collected data, the phonology, pronominal systems, TMA markers, syntactic properties, and lexical items of KP and DP are compared and contrasted. The question of the common vs. independent origin of KP and DP is also discussed.