De Gruyter - The Emergence of Creole Syllable Structure 554

Explore the complexities of phonotactic restructuring in this scholarly study from De Gruyter. This volume investigates syllable structure across six Caribbean creoles, providing a detailed look at how these languages evolve from their source languages. By examining creoles with Dutch, English, and French as their main lexifiers, the research offers a comparative perspective on linguistic development. The book utilizes the earliest reliable data available for each creole to perform statistical analyses. This approach allows researchers to identify which lexifier structures are retained and which undergo restructuring. It also examines the specific rates of change and the preferred mechanisms used for repair during the restructuring process. Designed for academic utility, the description of creole structures remains theory-neutral. This makes the findings accessible and meaningful to researchers working within various theoretical frameworks in the field of linguistics. It is an essential resource for those studying language evolution and Caribbean linguistic history.