Mittwoch, 14.00 Uhr
In this talk, I would like to offer an overview, and some case studies, of the kind of progress that can be made via embedding creolistics within parameter-setting models for cross-linguistic diversity and for language development, specially models where parametric variation is parasitic on a constrained set of properties related to functional categories (hereafter Fcs). The functional categories relevant to this talk concern core aspects of clausal structure, from verb syntax to predication patterns, to placement and morpho-phonological status of pronominal arguments, etc.
To lead the discussion forward, I'll start with the following questions:
(A) What aspects (if any) of creolization's morphosyntactic outcome can be accounted for with a relatively small number of FC-related constraints? Here I will try and extrapolate from a sample of case studies that illustrate robust contrasts between Haitian Creole and its major source languages at the level of morphosyntax (DeGraff 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997). These case studies lead to question (B).
(B) To what extent do the constraints in (A) intersect with those at play in well-documented instances of language change? In `ordinary' language change, properties associated with FCs drift more gradually than in creolization. Differences in the tempo of shift notwithstanding, I will discuss certain morphology-syntax (cor)relations at the FC level that seem to be kept constant across creolization and language change. In particular I will focus on the role of FCs in current syntactic theorizing and the implications thereof for both creolization and language change.
(C) Assuming language acquisition (in particular the acquisition of FCs) to be at the root of the intersection in (B) between creolization and language change, what sorts of hints may we hope to glean from such intersection toward elucidating the bases of parameter-setting?
For example, to what extent is the fixation of FCs' properties in acquisition sensitive to (what aspects of) the primary linguistic data (PLD)? By what individual-level, mental mechanisms is this sensitivity to the PLD linked to FCs' fragility in creolization and in other language-contact situations? It is well-established that the social context of creolization crucially affect the quality of the PLD, and, as the call-for-papers reads, "in many language contact situations, [...] functional categories are lost and, subsequently, reconstituted". Is such fragility dependent on modality? Remarkably, unlike what we find in the early stages of spoken-language acquisition and in creoles, inflectional morphology in signed languages appear to be quite robust developmentally.
In this abstract, "parameter-setting" loosely stands as a cover term for the mental processes that utilize the (externally-provided) PLD toward the unfurling of (internally-represented) specific grammars (qua arrays of parameter values). The hunch is that looking jointly at creolization, language change and language acquisition will bring much needed precision toward triangulating the innate linguistic constraints that regulate the passage from PLD to parameter-value arrays.
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