Language contact, shifts and drifts: The arc of my research on Creole Phonology
Prosody and intonation research in Creole languages is pivotal for understanding how prosodic system change under language contact and diversity within those systems. Creole languages exhibit various forms of prosodic hybridity, providing rich ground for research on contact effects on prosody. However, despite their histories, Creoles are neither prosodic clones nor weakened versions of their input languages. Instead, Creoles partly reflect crosslinguistic properties, challenging notions of creole exceptionalism, while also display unique features (Steien & Yakpo 2020; River-Castillo 2009; Remijsen & Van Hueven 2005; Hyman & Schwegler 2008; Good 2004; Gooden 2022).
Prosodic variation manifests across and within Creoles as differences in prosodic structure, tonal alignment, and pitch accent realization. Field recordings from rural Jamaican Creole suggest broad uniformity, yet geographical variation exists between Central and Eastern varieties. Trinidadian Creole exhibits ethnolinguistic variation and convergence (see eg. Armstrong et al 2022). Focus marking presents notable typological variation, indicating that intonational strategies permit multiple foci where well-documented morphosyntactic strategies fail.
This talk reviews my continued advocacy for shifting Creoles from the periphery of linguistics research, underscoring the theoretical importance of understanding prosodic variation in contact situations (Clements & Gooden 2009; Gooden 2022). Finally, I will argue that such efforts must involve collaboration with scholars from Creole speaking communities, to comprehensively understand Creole prosody and its implications for linguistic theory.
