This book constitutes a primary data-supported, comprehensive grammar of Papiamentu. It analyzes spontaneous speech data from two varieties spoken in Aruba and Curaçao. The author examines structural features so far unexplored in the areas of phonology, morphology, syntax, and aspects of sentential semantics. Particular attention is given to nominal classifiers, non-pro-drop syntactic constructions, and absolute tense marking, traits that are rarely described in regards to Creole or Romance languages. Researchers interested in formal analyses of Papiamentu, Creole languages, and in language contact will find this book an indispensable tool.

The Story of Papiamentu is a non-linguistic history of the creole language, Papiamentu, which is spoken in Cura ao, Aruba and Bonaire. Papiamentu is a Spanish-based creole which most believe to have originated in the 17th century. The exact origin of Papiamentu is in dispute, and this text discusses whether it is the result of the Spanish of explorers mixing with the language of the local Indians, or if it originated with Portuguese slavers in Africa. Also discussed are the activities of the Portuguese explorers and slavers in Africa, the later activities of the Dutch slavers, the history of slavery in Cura ao, the oral and written development of Papiamentu, and the Sephardic Jewish community of Cura ao and their contributions to the development of Papiamentu.

This volume in memory of Terry Crowley covers a wide range of languages: Australian, Oceanic, Pidgins and Creoles, and varieties of English. Part I, Linguistic Description and Typology, includes chapters on topics such as complex predicates and verb serialization, noun incorporation, possessive classifiers, diphthongs, accent patterns, modals in Australian English and directional terms in atoll-based languages. Part II, Historical Linguistics and Linguistic History, ranges from the reconstruction of Australian languages, to reflexes of Proto-Oceanic, to the lexicon of early Melanesian Pidgin. Part III, Language Development and Linguistic Applications, comprises studies of lexicography, language in education, and language endangerment and language revival, spanning the Pacific from South Australia and New Zealand to Melanesia and on to Colombia. The volume will whet the appetite of anyone interested in the latest linguistic research in this richly multilingual part of the globe.

The first essays in this volume locate Latin America within the postmodernism debate by addressing both its position in the theory of the postmodern and the peripheral existence of the continent in light of the globalizing practices of the contemporary world. The next essays focus on the Caribbean and elements of the formation of identity and culture in a group of societies belonging to the same geographic region but confronted with the idiosyncrasies of their colonial histories, the problematics of race and language, and their relation to the politics and cultures of metropolitan powers. There are three essays concerned with re-readings of the first encounters between Europe and America and discussions of more recent fictional representations of the past which attempt to recover the lost Amerindian Other of the Conquest and Colonization and to reveal the constructedness of History. Finally, preceded by two texts on ways of reading and writing in Latin America, the final four essays are concerned with challenges to the discourses of power by Latin American women who re-define the subject and counter the established hegemonies of religion, culture, and social structure both in their writing and political actions. As a collection of essays, this volume will appeal to readers who are interested in Post-modernism as a global phenomenon and in understanding the different forms it takes and the issues it addresses in different cultural environments.

This volume offers a thorough examination of the syntactic, semantic, pragmatic and discourse properties of noun phrases in a wide variety of creole (and non-creole) languages including Cape Verdean Creole, Santome, Papiamentu, Guinea-Bissau Creole, Mindanao Chabacano, Réunionnais Creole, Lesser Antillean, Haitian Creole, Mauritian Creole, Seychellois, Sranan, Jamaican Creole, Berbice Dutch Creole and African American English. Comparative studies also consider the determiner systems of Middle and Modern French, European Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Ewe, Fon and Gun. This compilation of 16 chapters brings together descriptive, theoretical, diachronic and synchronic studies that focus on the structure and interpretation of bare nouns in creoles. The contributions demonstrate the variety and complex nature of determiner systems in creoles and their widespread use of bare nouns in comparison to their source languages. This volume is evidence of the relevance of creole languages to theories of language creation, language change and linguistic theory in general.