Statistical Modeling of Creole Genesis
نویسنده
چکیده
Creole languages do not fit into the traditional tree model of evolutionary history because multiple languages are involved in their formation. In this paper, we present several statistical models to explore the nature of creole genesis. After reviewing quantitative studies on creole genesis, we first tackle the question of whether creoles are typologically distinct from non-creoles. By formalizing this question as a binary classification problem, we demonstrate that a linear classifier fails to separate creoles from non-creoles although the two groups have substantially different distributions in the feature space. We then model a creole language as a mixture of source languages plus a special restructurer. We find a pervasive influence of the restructurer in creole genesis and some statistical universals in it, paving the way for more elaborate statistical models.
منابع مشابه
BACK TO NATURE OR NURTURE: USING COMPUTER MODELS IN CREOLE GENESIS Key words: Language acquisition, Creole Genesis, Computational Models
“Artificial societies” are constructed to examine L2-based creole development. ‘Virtual’ slaves and slave-owners interact based on socio-historical conditions. Linguistic transmissions and developments are tracked. This study takes no position on whether a theory of ‘imperfect L2 acquisition of the superstrate language’ can be viewed as final truth with respect to creole genesis. However, a Com...
متن کاملThe Bilingual Bioprogram: Evidence for child bilingualism in the formation of creoles∗
Studies concerning the emergence of creole languages are largely based on assumptions related to the monolingual speaker, with little discussion of the role that bilingualism may play in creole formation. For instance, the Language Bioprogram Hypothesis argues that creoles arise within one generation when children create a novel first language as a result of exposure to their immigrant parents'...
متن کاملThe Socio-genetic Solution: a New Look at Language Genesis through Swarm Modeling
Creole languages have long been a point of contention in linguistic circles. Broadly defined, creoles are grammars resulting from an amalgamation of two or more languages, such as when speakers of differing mother tongues find a need for rudimentary communication during economic or social transactions. Creolization occurs if the “invented” system becomes the native language of the speech commun...
متن کاملCreoles are typologically distinct from non-creoles
In creolist circles, there has been a a long-standing debate whether creoles differ structurally from non-creole languages and thus would form a special class of languages with specific typological properties. This debate about the typological status of creole languages has severely suffered from a lack of systematic empirical study. This paper presents for the first time a number of large-scal...
متن کاملAs Long as You’re a Black Wo/Man You’re an African: Creole Diasporic Politics in the Age of Mestizo Nationalism
Nicaragua, along with most—if not all—Central American nations, is seldom considered to have a Black or Afro-Latino population. Despite the legacies of colonial Black erasure that bleed into the present day, however, Nicaragua’s Southern Atlantic Coast in particular has been home to Afro-descendants since the early 17th century. Part of Nicaragua’s historical narrative of Black erasure has to d...
متن کامل