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Apost-creole continuum (or simplycreole continuum) is adialect continuum ofvarieties of acreole language between those most and least similar to thesuperstrate language (that is, a closely related language whose speakers assert or asserted dominance of some sort). Due to social, political, and economic factors, a creole language candecreolize towards one of the languages from which it is descended, aligning itsmorphology,phonology, andsyntax to the local standard of the dominant language but to different degrees depending on a speaker's status.
William Stewart, in 1965, proposed the termsacrolect, the highest or most prestigious variety on the continuum, andbasilect, the lowest or least prestigious variety, as sociolinguistic labels for the upper and lower boundaries, respectively, of a post-creole speech continuum.[1] In the early 1970sDerek Bickerton popularized these terms (as well asmesolect for intermediate points in the continuum) to refer to the phenomenon ofcode-switching used by some users of creole languages who also have some fluency in thestandard language upon which the contact language is based.University of Chicago linguistSalikoko Mufwene explains the phenomenon of creole languages as "basilectalization" away from a standard, often European, language among a mixed European and non-European population.[2] In certainspeech communities, a continuum exists between speakers of a creole language and a related standard language. There are no discrete boundaries between the different varieties, and the situation in which such a continuum exists involves considerable social stratification.
The following table (fromBell 1976) shows the 18 different ways of rendering the phraseI gave him one inGuyanese English:
| 1 | aɪ | ɡeɪv | hɪm | wʌn | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | wan | ||||
| 3 | a | ɪm | |||
| 4 | iː | ||||
| 5 | ɡɪv | hɪm | |||
| 6 | ɪm | ||||
| 7 | iː | ||||
| 8 | dɪd | ɡɪv | |||
| 9 | dɪ | ɡɪ | |||
| 10 | dɪd | ||||
| 11 | dɪ | ɡiː | |||
| 12 | ɡɪ | hiː | |||
| 13 | mɪ | ||||
| 14 | iː | ||||
| 15 | bɪn | ||||
| 16 | ɡiː | ||||
| 17 | æm | ||||
| 18 | ɡiː | ||||
The continuum shown has the acrolect form as[aɪɡeɪvhɪmwʌn] (which is identical withStandard English) while the basilect form is[mɪɡiːæmwan]. Due to code-switching, most speakers have a command of a range in the continuum and, depending on social position, occupation, etc. can implement the different levels with various levels of skill.[3]
If a society is so stratified as to have little to no contact between groups who speak the creole and those who speak the superstrate (dominant) language, a situation ofdiglossia occurs, rather than a continuum. Assigning separate and distinct functions for the two varieties will have the same effect. This is the case inHaiti withHaitian Creole andFrench.
Use of the termsacrolect,mesolect andbasilect attempts to avoid thevalue judgement inherent in earlier terminology, by which the language spoken by the ruling classes in a capital city was defined as the "correct" or "pure" form while that spoken by the lower classes and inhabitants of outlying provinces was "a dialect" characterised as "incorrect", "impure" or "debased".
It has been suggested (Rickford 1977;Dillard 1972) thatAfrican American Vernacular English is a decreolized form of a slave creole. After emancipation, African-Americans' recognition and exercise of increased opportunities for interaction created a strong influence ofStandard American English onto the speech of Black Americans so that a continuum exists today with Standard English as the acrolect and varieties closest to the original creole as the basilect.
InJamaica, a continuum exists betweenJamaican English andJamaican Patois.[4][5]
In Haiti, the acrolect isHaitian French and the basilect has been standardized asHaitian Creole.
Meanwhile, in southern Africa,Afrikaans is a codified mesolect, or a partial creole,[6][7] with the acrolect (standardDutch) stripped of official status decades ago, having been used for only religious purposes.
