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 Complex Adaptive System approach sheds light on underlying dynamics of the canonical plantation which produce large-scale effects. Our findings suggest that patterns of adult L2 acquisition presumed under standard L2 creole accounts are not sufficient to explain the emergence of these creoles. Adults in our model created an incipient African-based pidgin which continued with each generation of L2 speakers. Notably, in a previous study we found that ‘prototypical creole’ structures emerged when a very small percentage of older bilingual children were present in the population.