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The Nature of a Creole Continuum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2026

Derek Bickerton
Derek Bickerton*
Affiliation:
University of Hawaii
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Abstract

Hitherto, post-Saussurean linguistic theories have been unable to provide satisfactory descriptions of a creole continuum. This paper reviews previous attempts in the field, and indicates the need for a different theoretical orientation—one which would replace static, synchronic models of polar dialects with a single dynamic model incorporating both these and all the intermediate variations. In support of this argument, two sub-systems of the Guyanese creole continuum—the copulative and the pronominal—are described in terms of the dynamic evolution of the continuum as a whole; and it is demonstrated that, far from being an area of random variation, such a continuum represents a series of developmental stages ordered in accordance with basic principles of linguistic change. Finally, it is claimed that both the theory and the methodology advanced here cannot be limited to creole situations, but must have universal validity.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 49 , Issue 3 , September 1973, pp. 640 - 669
Copyright
Copyright © 1973 by Linguistic Society of America

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