Syea, A. 2013. On the structure and development of Saxon-type genitives in Mauritian Creole and the processes of creole formation. Acta Linguistica Hafniensia: international journal of linguistics. 45 (1), pp. 1-42. https://doi.org/10.1080/03740463.2013.855508
| Title | On the structure and development of Saxon-type genitives in Mauritian Creole and the processes of creole formation |
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| Authors | Syea, A. |
| Abstract | This paper revisits the discussion of Saxon-type genitives in French-based Mauritian Creole. These genitives also occur in Seychelles Creole, Louisiana Creole, Karipuna Creole, and Guyanese Creole, but, interestingly, not in any of the other French creoles (e.g. Haitian Creole). How did they develop, and why do they only occur in a handful of these creoles? Several attempts have been made to explain their development and distribution. Focusing mainly on their occurrence in Mauritian Creole, Corne (1986) argues that they have their root in the Indo-Aryan languages spoken in Mauritius. Syea (1994, 1995) and Heine and Kuteva (2001), on the other hand, both reject this explanation and suggest, instead, that their presence is a consequence of internal developments. This paper offers a new solution which, while maintaining the internal development approach of Syea (1994, 1995), extends its empirical base with data from other French creoles and suggests that Saxon-type genitives in Mauritian Creole and the other French creoles originated in French doubling possessives such as sa maison à lui/Marie (lit. his/her house to him/Marie ‘his/Mary's house’). It argues that this development was made possible by a downgrading of the possessive pronoun from clitic in French to agreement marker in French creoles. The discussion is couched in the framework of Principles and Parameters (Chomsky 1981) and Minimalism (Chomsky 1995, 2000). |
| Journal | Acta Linguistica Hafniensia: international journal of linguistics |
| Journal citation | 45 (1), pp. 1-42 |
| ISSN | 0374-0463 |
| Year | 2013 |
| Publisher | Routledge |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1080/03740463.2013.855508 |
| Publication dates | |
| Published | 2013 |