Overview
1. Language creation: koineization
The creation of new languages
2. Asian languages in Suriname
3. Sarnami: An Asian koine in Suriname
Ling1003: Language, thought & culture
Lecture 4: koineization
Dr. Kofi Yakpo
Overview
Daughter variety
‘Indigenised’ variety
1. Language creation: koineization
2. Asian languages in Suriname
L1
L2
L Shift
3. Sarnami: An Asian koine in Suriname
L Creation
Pidgin
Slang
Creole
Jargon
Mixed language
Koine
Koineization
(Kerswill 2002: 669)
“Through koineization, new varieties of a language are
brought about as a result of contact between
speakers of mutually intelligible varieties of that
language.”
Processes involved in koineization
•
Mixing
•
Leveling
•
Simplification
•
Reallocation
(cf. also Barz & Siegel 1988)
(cf. Gambhir 1988, Barz & Siegel 1988, Kerswill 2002, Meshtrie
1991)
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The creolisation matrix (e.g. Alleyne 1980)
Koineization
Superstrate (Lexifier, L2)
Variety 1, Variety 2
Society
Cognition
Society
culture, politics &
economics
how the mind
works
culture, politics &
economics
Cognition
how the mind
works
Variety 3, Variety 4
Substrates (L1’s)
Overview
1. Language creation: koineization
2. Asian languages in Suriname
3. Sarnami: An Asian koine in Suriname
Population movements to Suriname
West Africa: 1600s – 1820s
Western Europe: 1600s – 1920s
India: 1838 - 1917
China: 1852 – 1917, present
Java 1890 -1939
2
Which language is this?
Colonial indentured migration to Suriname
Sarnámi origins (Map: Carlin & Arends 2002)
Overview
1. Language creation: koineization
•
2. Asian languages in Suriname
Sarnami was created by the Indian-descended
immigrants to Suriname in the 19th and 20th centuries
(cf. Marhé 1985; Damsteegt 1988)
3. Sarnami: An Asian koine in Suriname
•
Sarnami is a koine that arose from contact between
various closely-related languages of North-Eastern
India
•
Sarnami is also related to Hindi, the most widely
spoken language in India (cf. Masica 1993)
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Sarnámi: contributing languages (Map: Carlin & Arends 2002)
Sarnámi origins (Map: Carlin & Arends 2002)
Awadhi
Bhojpuri
Maithili
Magahi
Koineization: L1 + L1 (+ L1)
So how does Sarnami sound?
LX
Koineization: mixing (Yakpo & Muysken, to appear
Koineization: simplification
2013
2013)
(Yakpo & Muysken, to appear
Table 1. Perfective/past suffixes in Sarnami and north Indian languages
Sarnami
1SG -li, -lin
Sadani
Bhojpuri
-lō ̃
Maithili
Magahi
-li
-li
Lakhimpuri
Awadhi
-eũ
-lı̄ ̃
-lī
-li
-li
-en
2SG -le
-lā, (-liu)
-lis
-le, -lẽ
-la
-ē, -isi
-le
-lā, (-liu)
-lā
-le, -lẽ
-la
-eu
-l, (-li)
-lak
-l, -lək
-l, -lak
-isi
-lẽ, (-lini)
-aī
-l, -lək
-l, -lak
-ini
1PL
2PL
-li, -lin
Southern
Bhojpuri
-lı̄ ̃
3SG -l, -is
3PL
-l, -is, -lẽ
(Sources: Saksena 1971 for Awadhi; Tiwari 1960 and Shukla 1981 for Bhojpuri; Horstmann
1969 for Sadani Bhojpuri; Yadav 1996 for Maithili; Verma 1966 for Magahi)
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Conclusion
Koineization is less drastic in result than creolization.
But it shares characteristics with creolization:
•
Elements of earlier languages are combined in
creative ways
•
Bound morphology may be reduced and paradigms
may be leveled
Barz, R. and Siegel, J. (eds). 1988. Language Transplanted: The
Development of Overseas Hindi. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.
Damsteegt, T. 1988. Sarnami: A living language. In Language
transplanted: The development of overseas Hindi, R.K. Barz and J.
Siegel (eds), 95–119. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.
Kerswill, Paul (2003) Koineization and accommodation. In J. K.
Chambers, P. Trudgill &N. Schilling-Estes (eds.) The handbook of
language variation and change. Oxford: Blackwell. pp. 669-702.
Marhé, R.M. 1985. Sarnami byakaran: Een elementaire grammatica van
het Sarnami. Leidschendam: Stichting voor Surinamers.
Masica, C.P. 1993. The Indo-Aryan Languages. (Cambridge Language
Surveya). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Yakpo, Kofi & Muysken, Pieter. In press (2013). Language change in a
multiple contact setting: The case of Sarnami (Suriname). In
Buchstaller, Isabelle, Anders Holmberg and Mohammad Almoaily
(eds), Pidgins and Creoles beyond Africa-Europe Encounters.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
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