Re: further response to Edmund Grimley-Evans

[Chris Handley <cbmvax!uunet!GANDALF.OTAGO.AC.NZ!CHandley>]

Lojbab writes:

>Now the fact that Esperanto norms are NOT determined by native-born
>speakers is therefore precisely why such linguists do not consider
>Esperanto a true language yet, as opposed to a creole (which is precisely
>an amalgamated language spoken by adults of differing native language
>backgrounds for mutual communication).  There are some linguists, but very
>few, who study creoles, and the creolization process whereby a creole
>spoken as the dominant tongue in a region becomes a true language because
>that becomes the language that adults teach their children.  These
>linguists tend to study those processes, not the adult speaking norms,
>which as I've said are not 'interesting' because they are likely to be
>uninstinctive in nature and hence not reminiscent of pure linguistic
>behavior.
>
My understanding of a creole is that it is (eventually) spoken by adults,
but is created by children. A typical creole is created in a colonial
situation, where (for one reason or another - typically the import of
indentured labour) there is a small dominant unilingual class in charge of a
large heterogeneous _polyglot_ under class. The adults communicate as best
they can with the bosses and each other - the kids develop a creole which
then becomes the language of the community. Grammars of all creoles show a
remarjable similarity, the vocabulary is typically that of the ruling class
- French fro Creole, English for pidgin. The only exception to the above
scenario is Afrikaans, which was born in different circumstances, but is is
still (probably) a creole.

Chris Handley                                     chandley@otago.ac.nz
Dept of Computer Science                       Ph     (+64) 3-479-8499
University of Otago                           Fax     (+64) 3-479-8577
Dunedin, NZ

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