Limit this search to....

Relabeling in Language Genesis
Contributor(s): Lefebvre, Claire (Author)
ISBN: 0199945314     ISBN-13: 9780199945313
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
OUR PRICE:   $52.25  
Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats
Published: November 2014
Qty:
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Language Arts & Disciplines | Linguistics - Historical & Comparative
Dewey: 417.22
LCCN: 2014018508
Physical Information: 0.9" H x 6" W x 9.1" (0.95 lbs) 328 pages
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
Relabeling is a process that assigns a lexical entry of language-x a new label derived from a phonetic string drawn from language-y. This process plays a central role in the formation of contact languages such as mixed languages, pidgins and creoles, and New Englishes. In this book, Claire
Lefebrve offers a coherent picture of research on relabeling over the last 15 years, and replies to the questions that have been directed at the relabeling-based theory of creole genesis presented in Lefebvre (1998) and related work. It addresses such questions as: how does relabeling apply across
language contact situations and across lexicons, and what constraints act upon it? What other processes apply in language genesis and how do they interact with relabeling? Can a relabeling-based theory of creole genesis really account for all of the features that a theory of creole genesis must be
able to account for?

Since relabeling applies to the lexical component of the grammar, different theories of the lexicon should make different predictions as to the nature of the lexical items to which the process can apply. Lefebvre discusses the predictions of a Construction Grammar framework and how they compare to
those of the Principles and Parameters framework, and how each framework accounts for data. She analyzes how word order is established within a relabeling-based account of creole genesis, and the role that relabeling plays in accounting for the differences between creoles. Other topics discussed
include the contribution of the superstrate language to a creole within a relabeling-based account of creole genesis, and the predictions of relabeling in terms of the typological classification of creoles. Lefebvre ultimately demonstrates how the relabeling-based theory of creole genesis
constitutes a strong alternative to the Bioprogram Hypothesis.