Daniel Andreasson <daniel_noldo@HOTMAIL.COM wrote:
>
> Nik Taylor wrote:
>
> > For instance, in Bislama, pronouns
> > obligatorily mark number (singular/dual/trial/plural) and
> > inclusive/exclusive in the first person, thus:
> > Person Singular Dual Trial Plural
> > 1 excl mi mitupela mitripela mipela
> > 1 incl yumi(tupela) yumitripela yumipela
> > 2 yu yutupela yutripela yupela
> > 3 em tupela tripela olgeta
>
> Where is Bislama spoken? Because Broken (Torres Strait Creole)
> has the almost exact same pronoun system. (If you remove the
> trial and the 'e' in the plural suffix 'pela'.)
Bislama is spoken in Beach la Mar
>
> My question is thus: how alike are creoles? I guess it doesn't
> have anything to do with where they are spoken. More likely
> it has something to do with the two 'merging' languages.
There are two theories: one says that Creoles look alike because they
reflect the basic grammar in our heads (Chomsky). The other says that all
pidgins/creoles originate from one ancestral pidgin, located somewhere in
West Africa or the Mediterranean (Lingua Franca?), that the slaves brought
with them when they were shipped to other places.
>
> Every creole with English as the lexifier probably looks
> something like 'mitupela'. But what about the grammar?
>
It is said that -for example- most pidgins/creoles order the particles for
Tense, Mood and Aspect in exactly that order when they precede the verb and
AMT when they follow the verb.
> Is it universal to all creoles because of Chomsky's LAD
> (language aquisition device) which we all are supposed to
> have in our heads?
I believe Chomsky used pidgins to demonstrate his theory?
> (Sounds a bit scary. Doctor to patient: I'm sorry, but
> you have LAD... ;)
My son (15 months) is suffering from LAAD as well. He is copying intonation
patterns right now.
> Or does it have something to do with the 'grammarlanguage'
> (don't know the term)?
> Does a creole with English and a bantulanguage as lexifier
> and grammifier look different from an English/Chinese creole
> regarding the grammar?
>
> Daniel Andreasson