Innovation and Independent Developments

So far, I have looked into a number of structural properties that TdCE shared with other varieties of English. A central question was whether these structures were transplanted to Tristan da Cunha as such or, alternatively, whether (and to what extent) they were a result of independent processes that occurred on the island itself. I found that TdCE, even though being highly distinctive, differs from other varieties of post-colonial English mainly on quantitative grounds. Chapter 5 provided a list of varieties that have third person singular zero; in Chapter 6, we saw that past be was levelled in the Dominican Republic, the English Fens, Anniston/Alabama, and in many other varieties of English; Chapter 7, finally, showed that ‘completive done’ is (or rather was) found in a number of English dialects, both historically and synchronically. I concluded in each case that the features in question were transplanted to Tristan da Cunha via one or several of the input varieties and that they acquired their particular characteristics as a result of linguistic processes that occurred at some stage during the new-dialect formation period. According to Wolfram and Thomas (2002: 39), Very few of the dialect structures found in a given enclave community are unique to that variety; the vast majority of structures are found in other dialects as well so that it is the combination of structures rather than individual structures that sets enclave communities apart.

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