Attrition of a creole : the syntactic effects of the L2 acquisition of papiamentu on Jamaican creole
Loading...
Date
Date
2022-07-12T19:20:08Z
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This study investigates the attrition of Jamaican Creole (JC), in a Papiamentu (Pp)
dominant environment, to determine the syntactic features of JC first language
(L1) attrition, a projected timeline during which each feature may fall prey to
attrition and the degree to which features of the grammar may be affected. No
known research on the attrition of Creole languages has previously been done.
Five data types were collected from 20 informants, who shared a similar
sociolinguistic profile and who had been residing in Curaçao for periods between
1 and 21 years. These data were collected via natural use, clinical elicitation,
experimental elicitation, metalinguistic judgements and self-report data. The data
were analysed to determine recurring deviations that were common to informants
who were placed in three categories according to their years of residence in the
second language (L2) country: 1-5 years, 6-10 years and >10 years.
Recurring deviations were identified at the level of the Determiner Phrase (DP),
the Verb Phrase (VP) and the Sentence. Changes in the grammar were found to
result from cross-linguistic influence. In addition, there were ‘internally induced’
changes, that is, changes that could not be attributed to influence from an L2. It
was also found that changes in the affected L1 could become apparent after one
year of contact and that most changes in the attriting grammar occurred within the
first 5 years of migration.
Implications of this study include the following: in an effort to maintain native
speaker functionality in the L1, and in formal L1 instruction, emphasis should be
on features found to be susceptible to language attrition; priority ought to be given
to those features which have proven to be most susceptible to change; given that
the majority of stable changes take place within the first 5 years of contact, to
achieve optimum success, maintenance efforts should be most intense during
these early years; and finally, success at maintenance may be less likely after 10
years of contact as the majority of changes were found to have occurred by then