Affiliation:
1. University of Saint Joseph
Abstract
Abstract
This paper is concerned with the grammar and origins of a focusing rule in Malacca Creole Portuguese, (MCP)
whereby an adjectival phrase (AdjP) may be extracted from the right branch of a noun phrase and fronted to a position prior to the
determiner. It begins by describing the characteristics of AdjP-fronting in MCP, according to determiner type, syntactic role of
the fronted adjective, syntactic role of the determiner phrase, and the structural complexity of the AdjP. Subsequently, it
considers the presence of AdjP-fronting in 19th and 20th century data of the Creole Portuguese of Tugu/Batavia, Mangalore,
Cannanore, Cochin and Sri Lanka. Building on these comparisons, it then addresses the potential influences of Dravidian
(Malayalam, Tamil) and Indo-Aryan (Bangla) substrates, and Dutch and English adstrates. The paper concludes that AdjP-fronting in
MCP may be added to the list of typological features that demonstrate the connection between the southern Indo-Portuguese creoles
and the Malayo-Portuguese creoles.
Publisher
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Subject
Linguistics and Language,Language and Linguistics