Post Creolisation Evolution: the case of Santomense
Résumé
Rougé & Schang (2006) conclude their paper with the following claims :
“We cannot thus study the creolisation of Saotomense if one begins with the assumption that the present data is the
direct result of this process, considered as a separation from the lexifier language. Nor can we conclude that the
evolution of Saotomense is towards decreolisation. On the contrary, we can witness an autonomous evolution, under
several influences, including that of Portuguese.”
While this conclusion meets other similar analyses on different Creoles (see Good 2009 for
instance), it is only based on the analysis of the liquid consonant and therefore deserves to be
supported by other data.
In this paper, we provide grammatical and historical data that corroborate this hypothesis on the
following matters:
− evolution in consonant clusters (xtl,etc.) and vowels (ai,ali > ε) as in: xtlada 'road' (from Pt
estrada); kinte 'backyard' (from Pt quintal).
In these two examples, it is possible to reconstruct protoforms from which the present segments
derive: *sitlada ; *kintali. It illustrates an evolution made independently from Portuguese.
− double negation: na...fa 'negation' also illustrates an independent evolution.
− TMA markers: Saotomense has pre-verbal markers that result from the grammaticalisation
of Portuguese verbs or expressions. For instance, kia V 'to almost V' is a reinterpretation of
the Portuguese queria V .
The analyses to be developed in this communication support Rougé & Schang's hypothesis and
argue that decreolisation, while also attested in Saotomense, is not the only an ineluctable
phenomenon at work in the situation of contact.