Decreolization

==Overview==

==Overview==

Decreolization is a process of [[language change]] a [[creole language]] may undergo when in [[Language contact|contact]] with its [[lexifier]]. As languages remain in contact over time, they typically influence one another, especially if one holds higher [[Prestige (sociolinguistics)|linguistic prestige]]. In the context of creole languages, the lexifier tends to have higher prestige (though not always) and will exert a much greater influence on the creole, which has lower prestige. This leads to the reintroduction of linguistic material into the creole from the lexifier. Decreolization predicts that eventually the creole will resemble the [[lexifier]] to such a degree that it could then be called a [[dialect]] of that language rather than a separate language at all. According to [[Peter Trudgill]], if one views [[pidgin]]ization as a process of [[language reform#Simplification|simplification]], [[relaxed pronunciation|reduction]], and [[Admixture (genetics)|admixture]] from [[Substrata (linguistics)|substrate languages]], and creolization as the expansion of the language to combat reduction, then one can view decreolization as an 'attack' on both simplification and admixture.{{Cite book|title=Sociolinguistics : an introduction to language and society|last=Trudgill, Peter.|date=2000|publisher=Penguin|isbn=0-14-028921-6|edition=4th|location=London|oclc=43880055}}

Decreolization is a process of [[language change]] a [[creole language]] may undergo when in [[Language contact|contact]] with its [[lexifier]]. As languages remain in contact over time, they typically influence one another, especially if one holds higher [[Prestige (sociolinguistics)|linguistic prestige]]. In the context of creole languages, the lexifier tends to have higher prestige (though not always) and will exert a much greater influence on the creole, which has lower prestige. This leads to the reintroduction of linguistic material into the creole from the lexifier. Decreolization predicts that eventually the creole will resemble the [[lexifier]] to such a degree that it could then be called a [[dialect]] of that language rather than a separate language at all. According to [[Peter Trudgill]], if one views [[pidgin]]ization as a process of [[language reform#Simplification|simplification]], [[relaxed pronunciation|reduction]], and [[Admixture (genetics)|admixture]] from [[Substrata (linguistics)|substrate languages]], and creolization as the expansion of the language to combat reduction, then one can view decreolization as an 'attack' on both simplification and admixture.{{Cite book|title=Sociolinguistics : an introduction to language and society|last=Trudgill, Peter.|date=2000|publisher=Penguin|isbn=0-14-028921-6|edition=4th|location=London|oclc=43880055}}

One possible case of decreolization that can be considered is that of the [[Portuguese language]] in [[Goa]], a former colony of the [[Portuguese Empire]]. According to Rita Marquilhas (1998), in places that remained under Portuguese administration until the mid-20th century, such as Goa, there was a ‘decreolization,’ as various structures of the language gradually came closer to the [[European Portuguese|Portuguese]] spoken in [[Portugal]], leaving only traces in what is now the variety of Portuguese spoken by some Goan communities.{{Cite web |title=Português: um nome, muitas línguas |url=http://portal.educacao.salvador.ba.gov.br/site/documentos/espaco-virtual/espaco-escola/apoio/Portugues-um-nome-muitas-linguas.pdf}}

== Criticism ==

== Criticism ==