LING 002B. First-Year Seminar: Creoles in the Caribbean

Creole languages are new language varieties arising out of contact between European languages and non-European languages (from the regions of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean) during colonization. The primary focus will be on Anglophone Creoles of the Caribbean and the Caribbean coast of Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Panama and Honduras. In addition to examining structural features, we will examine the sociohistorical and linguistic circumstances leading to the formation of new language varieties as well as the colonial ideologies which shape the study of Creoles and their status in Creolophone societies. Other aspects to be explored include: Creoles and education, the commodification and spread of Creole languages (e.g. through Reggae), linguistic agency and resistance, the possible relationship between Creoles and African American English (AAE), whether Creoles are autonomous languages and if they constitute one language family.
1 credit.
Eligible for LALS.
Catalog chapter: Linguistics
Department website: http://swarthmore.edu/linguistics

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