Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages - Volume 23, Issue 1, 2008

The least understood aspect of Palenquero phonology is its intonational system. This is a serious gap, as it is precisely in the realm of prosody that the most striking phonological differences between Palenquero and (Caribbean) Spanish are apparent. Although several authors have speculated that African influence may be at the source of Palenquero’s peculiar intonation, to date published research offers no detailed information about the intonation of the creole. The goal of this study is to remedy this situation. Here we identify several specific intonational features where conservative (or older-generation) Palenquero differs from (Caribbean) Spanish. One of these features is a strong tendency to use invariant word-level contours, with a H tone on the stressed syllable and L tones on unstressed syllables, in all sentential contexts, including prenuclear positions. A second feature that we have identified is the use of a sustained phrase-final high or mid level contour in declaratives accented on the final syllable, and a long fall in declaratives accented on the penult. The final section addresses the issue of the possible origin of these intonational features. We point out similarities with Equatorial Guinea Spanish and conclude that, at some point in the history of Palenquero, the Spanish prosodic system was interpreted as involving lexical tone, in conformity with claims in the literature regarding several Atlantic creoles.

There has been a proposal to include language as a basis upon which discrimination should be proscribed in the Constitution of Jamaica. The proposal was considered in 2001 by a parliamentary committee which articulated certain concerns largely about the legal ramifications of a right not to be discriminated against on the ground of language. Central to the committee’s concerns are the nature and extent of the legal obligations that may arise for the state in a situation in which English is the de facto official language but in which Jamaican Creole, a largely oral, low status vernacular, not highly mutually intelligible with English, is the dominant language for a majority of Jamaicans. This article explores the concerns of the parliamentary committee. It draws upon legal decisions and principles from other jurisdictions in the area of discrimination involving language and attempts an assessment of the applicability of such principles to the Jamaican language situation and Creole language situations in general.

This paper investigates claims as to the role of categorial multifunctionality in the Pitkern-Norf’k (PN) language. It concludes that the grammar of this construction is far less productive than that of either English or Tahitian (the principal substratum language). Essentially, multifunctionality in PN is a subset of English. In this, it is very different from Tok Pisin, which developed an independent system of categorial multifunctionality over the first 80 years of its existence. The paper makes some suggestions as to why the productivity of the derivational lexicon is so different in the two languages.