Marlyse Baptista

University of Michigan | U-M · Department of Linguistics

How can linguists actively rectify the ways Creoles 1 are introduced, discussed, and represented in the linguistics classroom? Historically, linguistics teaching and research have separated Creoles from other language varieties. This can be found in the theoretical perspectives that are assumed and promoted, namely Creole exceptionalism (DeGraff 20...

From the 15th to the 19th century, the Trans-Atlantic Slave-Trade (TAST) influenced the genetic and cultural diversity of numerous populations. We explore genomic and linguistic data from the nine islands of Cabo Verde, the earliest European colony of the era in Africa, a major Slave-Trade platform between the 16th and 19th centuries, and a previou...

From the 15th to the 19th century, the Trans-Atlantic Slave-Trade (TAST) influenced the genetic and cultural diversity of numerous populations. We explore genomic and linguistic data from the nine islands of Cabo Verde, the earliest European colony of the era in Africa, a major Slave-Trade platform between the 16th and 19th centuries, and a previou...

From the 15th to the 19th century, the Trans-Atlantic Slave-Trade (TAST) influenced the genetic and cultural diversity of numerous populations. We explore genomic and linguistic data from the nine islands of Cabo Verde, the earliest European colony of the era in Africa, a major Slave-Trade platform between the 16th and 19th centuries, and a previou...

From the 15th to the 19th century, the Trans-Atlantic Slave-Trade (TAST) influenced the genetic and cultural diversity of numerous populations. We explore genomic and linguistic data from the nine islands of Cabo Verde, the earliest European colony of the era in Africa, a major Slave-Trade platform between the 16th and 19th centuries, and a previou...

Linguists from across sub-disciplines have noted that congruence (i.e., form-function mapping) across languages in contact seems to affect acquisition and play a role in language emergence (e.g. Creole genesis). However, because congruence is often confounded with other variables (e.g., frequency, language type, speakers' proficiency levels, percep...

From the 15th to the 19th century, the Trans-Atlantic Slave-Trade influenced the genetic and cultural diversity of numerous populations. We explore genomic and linguistic data from the nine islands of Cabo Verde, the earliest European colony of the era in Africa, a major Slave-Trade platform between the 16th and 19th centuries, and a previously uni...

The goal of this paper is to further our understanding of the nature of functional features in Creoles while focusing on how the functional exponent is morphologically realized, assuming a late-insertion-based exoskeletal model in the language mixing scholarly literature. In language mixing, it is observed that words are mixed within a certain synt...

This study investigates the development of category-specific conjunctions in Transylvanian Saxon (TrSax), a West-Germanic language that developed in Romania. We examine the nature of the two conjunctions and aim to determine whether language contact played a role in their development. Working within a language contact framework, we survey data from...

This article focuses on the role of congruence in Creole formation and development, using a competition-and-selection framework. The proposal is that the similarities (the congruent features) that speakers perceive between the languages in contact are favored to participate in the emergence and development of a new language. Specifically, I illustr...

This commentary focuses on three main topics raised in Mufwene’s (2017) target article, in addition to language policy, which I propose must be taken into account in order to support language vitality. First, this commentary explores the nature and role of speakers’ agency regarding the fate of their language. Second, it addresses whether it is alw...

Joint analyses of genes and languages, both of which are transmitted in populations by descent with modification-genes vertically by Mendel's laws, language via combinations of vertical, oblique, and horizontal processes [1-4]-provide an informative approach for human evolutionary studies [5-10]. Although gene-language analyses have employed extens...

This paper focuses on the two most distinct varieties of Cape Verdean Creole spoken on the islands of Santiago and São Vicente. These two varieties are consistently viewed as being in opposition to each other on historical, linguistic, political and cultural grounds. This paper examines the historical and linguistic aspects of this particular case....

Certain aspects of human knowledge of language (=UG) may well follow from more general laws of, e.g. (biological) computation, or physical law (Chomsky, 1965 and Chomsky, 2005). Minimalist derivation allows the possibility of deeper UG-independent explanation via third factor principles concerning “computationally efficient” satisfaction of the int...

This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note...

This chapter offers an overview of the controversies surrounding the study of creole syntax while evaluating representative studies. This overview includes proposals that cast creoles as a “type” of languages, proposals that view creoles as interlanguages and resulting from second language acquisition, and proposals that consider them as hybrid gra...

The main objective of this paper is to test experimentally the role of convergence in language acquisition (second language acquisition specifically), with implications for creole genesis. Although there is ample evidence that similar features in languages in contact are enhanced both in second language acquisition and the creation of new languages...

Parameters as Third Factor Timing Optionality

Creole languages may arise when languages in contact are mixed. The selection of features has long been seen as rich evidence for universals in language. But how do the features get selected and why do some features get selected (or disfavored) over others? We investigate the case of Cape Verdean Creole showing how morphological similarity and func...

This handbook reflects the state of the art in creole studies and through a collection of twenty-six chapters captures the main insights that creolists have achieved in recent years with regard to the nature of creole languages, their linguistic properties, genesis, and development. It also highlights the large questions that remain central to the...

This article attempts to reconstruct the plausible evolution of inflectional and freestanding morphemes in three historically related lusophone creoles (Cape Verdean Creole, Guinea-Bissau Creole, Papiamentu), and compares their morphological properties to Angolar, believed to have followed an independent developmental path. I examine their synchron...

This article attempts to reconstruct the plausible evolution of inflectional and free-standing morphemes in three historically related lusophone creoles (Cape Verdean Creole, Guinea-Bissau Creole, Papiamentu), and compares their morphological properties to Angolar, believed to have followed an independent developmental path. I examine their synchro...

Marlyse Baptista is an Associate Professor in Linguistics at the University of Georgia. She specializes in the study of the morphosyntactic properties of creole languages.

This chapter introduces the reader to the areas of previous investigation in creole studies, while outlining new directions the field is taking. The first section shows that, although the chief areas of interest have essentially remained the same for the past few decades, methodologies have changed toward a more comprehensive multilayered approach...

This paper explores the syntax of copular predication within and across the varieties of Cape Verdean Creole bringing new insights about the morpho-syntactic properties of the copula with respect to functional and lexical categories. The behavior of the copula will be shown to reflect both superstratal, substratal and universal influences present i...