Aymeric wrote:Another thing : I don't think creole could be considered as a slang, since its entire grammar is based on African languages.
What the other languages (be them African or European languages) contributed to the creoles was the lexicon (vocabulary) which was nevertheless modified to a greater or lesser extent.
Aymeric wrote:What makes the similarities between all creoles precisely is their grammar.
For example, we use auxiliaries to express tenses and aspects along with an infinitive verb, while French verbs are fully conjugated.
It would be interesting though to know what languages auxiliaries like ka, te, te ka, te kai, te ke, se (the main auxiliaries used in Caribbean creole), come from...
JackFrost wrote:Did he speak it in one of the two movies?
JackFrost wrote:Does anyone knows about the Cajun creole spoken in the bayoux of Louisiana?
JackFrost wrote:Pittsboy wrote:I spent two weeks in New Orleans, it was funny hearing people greet each other with "Bonjour y'all" LOL
I just can't stand hearing, "y'all."
Pittsboy wrote:Aymeric wrote:What makes the similarities between all creoles precisely is their grammar.
For example, we use auxiliaries to express tenses and aspects along with an infinitive verb, while French verbs are fully conjugated.
It would be interesting though to know what languages auxiliaries like ka, te, te ka, te kai, te ke, se (the main auxiliaries used in Caribbean creole), come from...
Exactly, what makes creoles grammars similar is not the fact that they are African-like languages but rather when they are created they are based upon the universal (=cognitive) grammar constraints. And there are creoles of many other languages, not only of French, and surprisingly enough, they are all alike even though their "source" languages are completely different.
As for the auxiliaries, as I said, lexicon (vocabulary) is usually copied from the european language and then modified (this process is called relexification). Of course you have also borrowings from lexicon of the African langs, depending on the case, but usually to a lesser extent. That's why French creoles resemble a lot in their vocabulary, as well as Portuguese creoles do too, with some differences, of course. But as for grammar, it is not a copy of the African nor the European language. Creoles all over the world resemple in the way they mark tense/mood/aspec, this is known as the TMA system, attested accross creoles.
Take a look at this wonderful article:Creole genesis and the acquisition of language, the case of Haitian Creole
Aymeric wrote:Very interesting, I had no idea !
But then, how do you explain the fact that tense and aspect marks are the same throughout the Caribbean while all the creoles of this region are based on either French, English or Spanish lexicons ? (and even others that I may not know of)
karen wrote:is Creole a slang of the French language?
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