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{{Short description|Language providing most vocabulary to a creole language}}A lexifier is the language that provides the basis for the majority of a pidgin or creole language's vocabulary (lexicon).BOOK, Pidgins, Creoles and Mixed Languages, Velupillai, Viveka, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2015, 978-90-272-5272-2, Amsterdam, 519, Often this language is also the dominant, or superstrate language, though this is not always the case, as can be seen in the historical Mediterranean Lingua Franca.JOURNAL, Rachel, Selbach, 2. The superstrate is not always the lexifier: Lingua Franca in the Barbary Coast 1530-1830,weblink Creole Language Library, 29–58, en, In mixed languages, there are no superstrates or substrates, but instead two or more adstrates. One adstrate still contributes the majority of the lexicon in most cases, and would be considered the lexifier. However, it is not the dominant language, as there are none in the development of mixed languages, such as in Michif.

Structure

Pidgin and creole language names are often written as the following: Location spoken + Stage of Development + Lexifier language. For example: Malaysian Creole Portuguese, with Portuguese being the lexifier and the superstrate language at the time of the creole development.Often the autoglossonym, or the name the speakers give their contact language, is written Broken + Lexifier, e.g. Broken English. This becomes confusing when multiple contact languages have the same lexifier, as different languages could be called the same name by their speakers. Hence, the names are as stated above in the literature to reduce this confusion.

Name

The word lexifier is derived from the modern Latin word lexicon, meaning a catalogue of the vocabulary or units in a given language.WEB,weblink lexicon, n., December 2018, OED Online, Oxford University Press, subscription, 2018-12-29, {{Failed verification|date=December 2018|reason=derivation of lexifier not provided in lexicon entry}}

Examples

• English is the lexifier of English-based creole languages, such as:
  • Jamaican PatoisJOURNAL, World Literature Today, 92, 3, 30–34, en, 10.7588/worllitetoda.92.3.0030, 10.7588/worllitetoda.92.3.0030, Gleibermann, Erik, Inside the Bilingual Writer, 2018, 165625005,
  • Belizean CreoleJOURNAL, Mobile Versus Fixed Bearing Medial Unicompartmental Knee Arthroplasty: A Series of 375 Patients, 10.15438/rr.5.1.28,
  • Miskito Coast CreoleNEWS,weblink Nicaragua Creole English, Ethnologue, 2018-10-11, en,
  • San Andres Creole EnglishNEWS,weblink Islander Creole English, Ethnologue, 2018-10-19, en,
  • Singapore Colloquial English, a.k.a. "Singlish"
• French is the lexifier of French-based creole languages, such as:
  • Antillean CreoleNEWS,weblink Saint Lucian Creole French, Ethnologue, 2018-10-11, en,
  • French Guianese CreoleWEB,weblink Guianese Creole French,
  • Haitian CreoleNEWS,weblink Haitian Creole, Ethnologue, 2018-10-11, en,
  • Louisiana CreoleNEWS,weblink Louisiana Creole, Ethnologue, 2018-10-11, en,
  • Mauritian CreoleWEB,weblink Morisyen,
  • Réunion CreoleWEB,weblink Réunion Creole French,
• Portuguese is the lexifier of Portuguese-based creole languages, such as:
  • Cape Verdean CreoleJOURNAL, Kouwenberg, Silvia, 2005-01-01, Marlyse Baptista. 2002. The Syntax of Cape Verdean Creole. The Sotavento Varieties, Studies in Language, en, 29, 1, 255–259, 10.1075/sl.29.1.19kou, 1569-9978,
  • Korlai Creole PortugueseJOURNAL, Koontz-Garboden, Andrew J., Clements, J. Clancy, 2002-01-01, Two Indo-Portuguese Creoles in contrast, Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages, en, 17, 2, 191–236, 10.1075/jpcl.17.2.03cle, 1569-9870,
  • Malaysian Creole Portuguese
  • Papiamento
  • Guinea-Bissau Creole
• Spanish is the lexifier of Spanish-based creole languages, such as:
  • ChavacanoJOURNAL, Lipski, John M., 2012-04-11, Remixing a mixed language: The emergence of a new pronominal system in Chabacano (Philippine Creole Spanish), International Journal of Bilingualism, en, 17, 4, 448–478, 10.1177/1367006912438302, 53459665, 1367-0069,
  • PalenqueroJOURNAL, Lipski, John M., 2012, Free at Last: From Bound Morpheme to Discourse Marker in Lengua ri Palenge (Palenquero Creole Spanish), Anthropological Linguistics, 54, 2, 101–132, 23621075, 10.1353/anl.2012.0007, 143540760,
• Dutch is the lexifier of Dutch-based creole languages, such as:
  • NegerhollandsJOURNAL, Bakker, Peter, September 2014, Three Dutch Creoles in Comparison, Journal of Germanic Linguistics, en, 26, 3, 191–222, 10.1017/S1470542714000063, 170572846, 1475-3014,
  • Berbice Dutch CreoleJOURNAL, 2017-03-01, On Berbice Dutch VO status, Language Sciences, en, 60, 120–132, 10.1016/j.langsci.2016.11.001, 0388-0001, Zeijlstra, Hedde, Goddard, Denice,
• Zulu is the lexifier of Zulu-based creole languages, such as:
  • FanagaloJOURNAL, Sanders, Mark, 2016-06-09, Why are you Learning Zulu?, Interventions, en, 18, 6, 806–815, 10.1080/1369801x.2016.1196145, 148247812, 1369-801X,

References

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