Middlebury

LNGT1002A-W15

Contact Languages/Slave Trade

Contact Languages and the Slave Trade
In this course we will look at the languages that arose out of contact between Africans and Europeans during the slave trade. We will begin with an overview of the history of the slave trade and resultant population movements. Students will study the differences between pidgins and creoles, the various theories for how these languages emerge from their source languages, and how the genesis of contact languages differentiates them from languages with more gradual genealogy and development. We will discuss the idea of “simplicity” as a loaded linguistic and cultural term, and possible connections between African languages and African American Vernacular English. This course counts as an elective towards the Linguistics minor.
Course Reference Number (CRN):
11405
Subject Code:
LNGT
Course Number:
1002
Section Identifier:
A

Course

LNGT 1002

All Sections in Winter 2015

Winter 2015

LNGT1002A-W15 Lecture (Cook)