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9 - The Evolution of Copula Systems in West African Pidgin

A Uniformitarian Perspective

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By
Kofi Yakpo
Edited by
Salikoko S. Mufwene  and
Enoch O. Aboh
Salikoko S. Mufwene
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
Enoch O. Aboh
Affiliation:
University of Amsterdam
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Summary

This chapter presents the first genetic and areal study of copula systems in West African Pidgin (WAP). The typological analysis of the three WAP varieties Pichi (Equatorial Guinea), Cameroon Pidgin, and Ghanaian Pidgin reveals a founder signal of their ancestor Krio (Sierra Leone) and its Yoruba substrate, plus an areal signal from the African adstrates and European superstrates in their respective ecologies. The strength of the founder signal increases in the order Ghanaian Pidgin < Cameroon Pidgin < Pichi. The areal signal follows the inverse order, reflective of differences in “social entrenchment,” a shorthand for the demographic strength of founder communities, differing social functions, and the extent of vernacularization of each variety. A qualitative and phylogenetic analysis reveals a rich functional and formal differentiation of nominal, locative, and property predication in West African Pidgin and its African adstrates. Despite different social histories, there is no evidence for pidginization or other types of “abnormal transmission” in the evolution of WAP. Instead, natural principles of genetic transmission, areal diffusion, and adaptation have colluded in shaping the copula systems of the WAP varieties in ways specific to each ecology.

Keywords

Pidgincreolecopulasubstrateadstratesocial factorslanguage contacttypologygenetic transmissionareal diffusion

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Type
Chapter
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Uniformitarianism in Language Speciation
From Creolistics to Genetic Linguistics
 , pp. 337 - 393
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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