Valency and Transitivity in a Contact Variety

The Evidence from Cameroon Pidgin English

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12987586
AutoresMelanie Green (0000-0002-3699-3732, University of Sussex, autor correspondente), Gabriel Ozón (0000-0003-0888-1933, University of Sheffield, autor correspondente)
Ano2019
Volume12
Fascículo1
Páginas52-88
Data de publicação2019-02-27
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Language Contact (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1955-2629 • E-ISSN: 1877-4091
EditoraBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/19552629-01201003
OpenAlexW2217659480
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas18

We explore valency and transitivity patterns in Cameroon Pidgin English ( cpe ) from a language contact perspective, with particular focus on (a) lexical and (b) constructional phenomena. With respect to (a), many verbs of English origin surface in cpe with additional senses and valency properties to those they display in the lexifier, illustrating the drive towards polysemy in a language with a relatively small lexicon. We also describe category change, whereby English non-verbal expressions (typically adjectives) emerge as verbs in cpe . In terms of (b), verbs undergo valency changes as a consequence of participation in productive serial verb constructions. These constructions are built around a small set of high-frequency verbs, some of which also occur in the light verb construction, which represents another strategy for the creation of complex predicates. We review the evidence for constructional substrate influence. The data under discussion are drawn from two small corpora of spoken cpe

Causative · Creole language · Focus (optics · Language contact · Lexicon · Linguistics · Perspective (graphical · Physics · Pidgin · Polysemy · Transitive relation · Valency · Variety (cybernetics · Verb · Computer Science · History · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Mathematics · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation · Artificial Intelligence