26 Jamaican Creole Proverbs from the Perspective of Contact Linguistics 2.3. CONTACT LINGUISTICS When two or more people speaking different languages meet for any purpose, be it business or trade, and they do not speak each other’s language, they need to find a common ground on which they can communicate. If these speakers wish to communicate, they may use a language they both know – then this language functions as a lingua franca. However, if a common language is not found, the situation forces the emergence of a new language which can be born within only a few hours of mutual contact. In the case of the Caribbean Creoles, “[i]t was the contact between the European languages of the explorers and colonizers, on the one hand, and the non-European languages of people with whom they came into contact, on the other […] that gave rise to the emergence of these pidgins and creoles” (Arends 2005: 847). The dominant language is called the lexifier language or superstrate language, and the languages with less dominating force are referred to as substrate languages (ibidem). The superstrate languages for the majority of pidgins and creoles are: Portuguese, French, Spanish, English and Dutch. Arends (2005: 848) states that all of the major lexifier languages are structurally similar and belong to only two branches (Germanic, Romance). In the opinion of Arends, all creoles are a product of language contact, and the European pidgins and creoles arose in the historical context of European expansion (ibidem). The expansion age is characterized by several common features, such as: (1) the introduction of trade and production on a truly global scale; (2) the presence of contact situations characterized by unusually wide social, cultural and psychological gaps between the parties involved (Europeans on the one hand and Africans, Asians, Native Americans and Polynesians on the other); (3) the use of forced labor and forced displacement of a large number of people (slave trade, indentured labor); and (4) the creation of a new type of society known as “the plantation complex” (Arends 2005: 849). The process of pidginization and creolization starts with the “clash” of two or more languages. However, according to Arends this is not a sufficient condition for a pidginization process to begin. Therefore, he further states: “there will be no pidginization or creolization without contact, and, second, that contact does not automatically lead to pidginization or creolization” (ibidem). Moreover, no pidgin will arise without regular contacts among speakers. Less intense contact makes it impossible for a pidgin to enter the stabilization phase. Regular contact assures the formation of syntactical forms and the creation of new lexicon. The longer the contacts last, and in more areas, the more
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