A Dialect Continuum
Sebba (1997) points out that one of the problems facing the linguist trying to describe the language of Jamaicans is the fact that the language is so varied / variable. De Camp (1971) was the first to describe the Jamaican situation as a dialect continuum linking the broadest creole with the local variety of Standard English.
We can view the dialect continuum as a ladder, with the acrolect at one end and the basilect at the other. In the middle, there are the mesolects, which are display varying degrees of similarity to either the creole or standard. The acrolect is the variety closest to the standard languae, while the basilect the the variety closest to the creole. Can you think / find other examples of creoles that exist in a similar continuum?
-
Recent Comments
Patrick Eichhorn on A Dialect Continuum Eltje Lahno on Pidgins and Creoles: Issues fo… Eltje Lahno on Pidgins and Creoles: Issues fo… Eltje Lahno on Creoles Julia on Creoles
February 12, 2008 at 6:50 pm
One can see another such network of dialects by considering the continuum of the Eastern Slavic languages.
Here, Russian, Belarusian, Carpatho-Rusyn and Ukrainian are recognized as four literary standards. The Serbo-Croatian language can also be viewed as a network of four major dialects and three literary standards.
Within this, Bulgarian and Macedonian properly form a dialect continuum and share a set of grammatical features which set them apart from other Slavic languages.
The Bulgarian standard, thus, is based on the more eastern dialects, and the Macedonian standard is based on the more western dialects.