Creoles

Posted by Gustavo Pereira on 00:01 12/29/01

In reply to: (none)

Hello Mark!

Well, I haven't written for such a long time... I've been very busy in the university, but now we're on vacations in Brazil, and I was able to read all the recent stuff in the Atlas. Amazing!!

I just would like to know two things: 1. Is Karimi (the language of Karimia, the Verdurian colony in Qaráumia) a kind of créole (or dialect developed from Verdurian) or a native language?

2. In the colonies more than 500 years old, are there any kind of creole or different dialects of the colonizers' language (like American X British english, Brazilian X European portuguese, Indian portuguese creoles, Caribbean french creoles, etc)?

Thanks! I'd also like to wish you a Happy New Year! Peace in 2002!

Regards,

Gustavo Pereira

Mark responds: Obad er lérezhan fsyan im leben zonán!
1. Karimi is a Lenani language, though it has that name because its region used to be Qarau territory (native adjective Qaraumcán). The Verdurians call their colony Karímia, thus Karimian is the local Qarau language. (Verdurian <k> = the uvular stop /q/-- the Lenani sound is actually a normal velar /k/.)
Anyway, Karimian itself is not a creole; but many Qaraus learn a pidgin form of Verdurian. Something similar can be said for other Ereláean colonies.
2. Pidgins and then creoles generally develop where there is a mixing of native languages, so that no one of them predominates, and where there are too few native speakers of the creolized language, so that the natives learn the creole from imperfect speakers (each other). The classic case is the Caribbean, where imported African slaves shared no common language and thus had to adopt the language of the (relatively unnumerous) whites.
The closest cases would be

Luduyn, where a large number of Chia, Sha, and Mgunikpe languages are spoken. A sort of pan-Chia-Sha creole has developed here. (Gurdagor was widely spoken, but the creole was of more use in organizing resistance to Gurdago!)
Téllinor, where there is an even more motley collection of local languages, and not many Verdurian settlers. Here, a true Verdurian creole has developed, though it won't have many native speakers yet.

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