Editing Creole language (section)

==Controversy==
Creolistics investigates the relative creoleness of languages suspected to be creoles, what {{Harvcoltxt|Schneider|1990}} calls "the [[cline (linguistics)|cline]] of creoleness". No consensus exists among creolists as to whether the nature of creoleness is [[prototypical]] or merely evidence indicative of a set of recognizable phenomena seen in association with little inherent unity and no underlying single cause.

==="Creole", a sociohistoric concept===
''Creoleness'' is at the heart of the controversy with [[John McWhorter]]<ref>As in {{Harvcoltxt|McWhorter|1998}}</ref> and Mikael Parkvall{{sfnp|Parkvall|2001}} opposing [[Henri Wittmann]] (1999) and [[Michel DeGraff]].<ref>As in {{Harvcoltxt|DeGraff|2003}} and {{Harvcoltxt|DeGraff|2005}}</ref> In McWhorter's definition, creoleness is a matter of degree, in that prototypical creoles exhibit all of the three traits he proposes to diagnose creoleness: little or no [[inflection]], little or no [[Tone (linguistics)|tone]], and [[Transparency (linguistic)|transparent]] [[derivation (linguistics)|derivation]]. In McWhorter's view, less prototypical creoles depart somewhat from this [[prototype]]. Along these lines, McWhorter defines [[Haitian Creole]], exhibiting all three traits, as "the most creole of creoles".{{sfnp|McWhorter|1998|p=809}} A creole like [[Palenquero]], on the other hand, would be less prototypical, given the presence of inflection to mark plural, past, gerund, and participle forms.{{sfnp|McWhorter|2000}} Objections to the McWhorter-Parkvall hypotheses point out that these typological [[parameters]] of creoleness can be found in languages such as [[Manding languages|Manding]], [[Soninke language|Sooninke]], and [[Magoua dialect|Magoua French]] which are not considered creoles. Wittmann and DeGraff come to the conclusion that efforts to conceive a [[yardstick]] for measuring [[creoleness]] in any scientifically meaningful way have failed so far.{{sfnp|Wittmann|1999}}{{sfnp|DeGraff|2003}} {{Harvcoltxt|Gil|2001}} comes to the same conclusion for [[Riau Indonesian]]. {{Harvcoltxt|Muysken|Law|2001}} have adduced evidence as to creole languages which respond unexpectedly to one of McWhorter's three features (for example, [[inflectional morphology]] in [[Berbice Creole Dutch]], [[Tone (linguistics)|tone]] in [[Papiamentu]]). {{Harvcoltxt|Mufwene|2000}} and {{Harvcoltxt|Wittmann|2001}} have argued further that Creole languages are structurally no different from any other language, and that Creole is in fact a sociohistoric concept (and not a linguistic one), encompassing displaced population and slavery. {{Harvcoltxt|DeGraff|Walicek|2005}} discuss creolistics in relation to [[colonialism|colonialist]] ideologies, rejecting the notion that Creoles can be responsibly defined in terms of specific grammatical characteristics. They discuss the history of linguistics and nineteenth-century work that argues for the consideration of the sociohistorical contexts in which Creole languages emerged.

==="Creole", a genuine linguistic concept===
On the other hand, McWhorter points out that in languages such as [[Bambara language|Bambara]], essentially a dialect of [[Manding languages|Manding]], there is ample non-transparent derivation, and that there is no reason to suppose that this would be absent in close relatives such as [[Mandinka language|Mandinka]] itself.{{sfnp|McWhorter|2005|p=16}} Moreover, he also observes that [[Soninke language|Soninke]] has what all linguists would analyze as [[inflection]]s, and that current lexicography of Soninke is too elementary for it to be stated with authority that it does not have non-transparent derivation.{{sfnp|McWhorter|2005|pp=35, 369}} Meanwhile, [[Magoua dialect|Magoua French]], as described by [[Henri Wittmann]], retains some indication of [[grammatical gender]], which qualifies as inflection, and it also retains non-transparent derivation.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Wittmann|1996}} and {{Harvcoltxt|Wittmann|1998}} as interpreted by {{Harvcoltxt|Parkvall|2000}}.</ref> Michel DeGraff's argument has been that [[Haitian Creole]] retains non-transparent derivation from French.

===Additional resources===
{{Harvcoltxt|Ansaldo|Matthews|Lim|2007}} critically assesses the proposal that creole languages exist as a homogeneous structural type with shared and/ or peculiar origins.

{{Harvcoltxt|Arends|Muysken|Smith|1995}} groups creole genesis theories into four categories:

* Theories focusing on the [[Europe]]an input
* Theories focusing on the non-European input
* [[Gradualist]] and [[Developmental linguistics|developmental]] hypotheses
* [[Universalist]] approaches

The authors also confine [[Pidgins]] and [[mixed languages]] into separate chapters outside this scheme whether or not relexification come into the picture.