Theories on Creole Origins
What can you say about the following:
- Bickerton’s Language Bioprogram Hypothesis
- Explain the theories between abrupt and gradual creolisation. You could briefly explain the Gradualist Hypothesis
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1. Language Bioprogram Hypothesis:
A scientific idea about creole formation. The “bioprogramm” is defined as a genetically determined set of principle for the organization of language (cf. class reading, Holm?) According to Bickerton’s idea many aspects of creole grammar can be explained by children’s creativity when acquiring a deficient pidgin as their first language (cf. ibid). “[A]ll of the features of earlier creole grammar were established in a single generation” (330). Within the creative use of language children, according to Bickerton, make use of the above defined bioprogramm, i.e. innate universal principles are at centre stage in creole formation. Hawii Creole English disproved this hypothesis, since it was a three-generation process.
For detailed information see Mather, Patrick-André, Second language acquisition and creolization: Same (i-) processes, different (e-) results
Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages, Volume 21, Number 2, 2006 , pp. 231-274(44).