Creoles at the Intersection of Variable Processes:

(TD)-deletion is a well-known variable phonological process subject to the influence of both external social factors and internal structural constraints, including phonetic environmental and morphosyntactic effects. Its profile of variation has been widely investigated in American English dialects. However, it interacts with another grammatical process -the affixation of the regular Pasttense marker, final /-t, -d/ -that strongly distinguishes these dialects from Englishrelated creoles, where Past-marking by this mechanism is infrequent or nonoccurrent. Investigation of (TD)-deletion in mesolectal Jamaican Creole raises important questions about the intersection of variable processes, the generality of Creoles at the Intersection of Variable Processes page 2 phonetic environmental constraints, and the degree of difference between Englishrelated creoles and metropolitan standard and non-standard Englishes. Creoles at the Intersection of Variable Processes page 3