The evolution of language and elaborateness of grammar: the case of
relative clauses in creole languages

Bernard Comrie and Tania Kuteva

MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology and University of Düsseldorf

comrie@eva.mpg.de

      Recent research indicates that contrary to traditional assumptions
(Trudgill 1983, Gumperz and Wilson 1971), language contact brings about
diversification and complexification of grammar (Heath 1978, Aikhenvald
2002).  This may involve more complexity with respect to contents, e.g. 
additional categories, additional variants of the same grammatical
category, redefining of the same grammatical category.  It may also
involve complexity with respect to form (see also Kuteva, forthcoming),
which we will refer to as elaborateness of marking, and which is at the
centre of our interest in this study. 

      Given that language contact leads to increase in elaborateness of
marking of grammatical categories, one would expect that the extreme
cases of language contact situation, namely pidgins and creoles, would
also involve elaborateness of marking. 

      With respect to pidgins, numerous studies have shown that this
expectation is not borne out.  One reason for this may very well be the
lack of bilingualism in pidgin-related situations.  The much more
interesting question involves the other extreme case of language
contact, creoles.  The question here is: what degree of elaborateness of
marking do grammatical categories exhibit in creole languages? This is
the issue we address in the present paper. 

      In order to answer the above question, we will work with 3
language samples: (i) a genetically and geographically balanced sample
of the languages of the world, (ii) a convenience sample of non-creole
dialects/languages highly influenced by language contact, (iii) a
convenience sample of creole languages.  We examine the languages in the
above samples for the way they mark relative clauses.  Our preliminary
results indicate the following degree of elaborateness of marking for
the relative clause construction:

-genetically and geographically balanced sample of the languages of the
world - in most cases, 1 marker

-convenience sample of non-creole dialects/languages highly influenced
by language contact - in most cases, more than one marker

-convenience sample of creole languages - in all cases, 1 marker. 

      In other words, we show that the growth of phonological material
for the marking of the relative construction in creole languages is no
less and no more that one marker for one meaning. 

      We put forward a functional explanation for this fact.  On the
assumption that:

-what is functional involves a simple, iconic 1-to-1 form: meaning
pairing; and

-both non-creole and creole languages start as

simple and highly functional systems (cf.  also Comrie's 1992: 205
assumption that certain complexities of all or many presently attested
languages were not present in early human language), we propose that
creoles show the simplest and most functional structure of relative
clause because their grammars are recent creations, which haven't had
enough time to produce, "junk" or elaborateness. 


References

Aikhenvald, Alexandra 2002.  Language contact in Amazonia.  New York:
Oxford University Press. 

Comrie, Bernard 1992.  Before complexity.  In: Hawkins & Gell-Mann
(eds.).  Pp.  193-211. 

Gumperz, John J.  & Robert Wilson 1971.  Convergence and creolization: A
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Hawkins, John and Murray Gell-Mann (eds.) 1992.  The evolution of human
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Heath, Jeffrey 1978.  Linguistic diffusion in Arnhem Land.  (Australian
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Trudgill, Peter 1983.  On dialect.  Social and geographical
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