Creole languages

6 ECTS credits
180 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 4023961DNR for all students in the 2nd semester at a (D) Master - preliminary level.

Semester

2nd semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Impossible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Taught in

English

Faculty

Faculty of Languages & Humanities

Department

Linguistics and Literary Studies

Educational team

Philipp Krämer (course titular)

Activities and contact hours

13 contact hours Lecture
13 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
128 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

This class is dedicated to the study of the structure, history, and social context of Creole languages. We will discuss various theories for the emergence of Creoles, the phonological and grammatical changes in contrast to the European base languages, the role of non-European substrate languages and the political and social context in the colonial past as well as today’s postcolonial societies.

We will consider Creole languages with different European base languages (English-, French-, Portuguese-, Spanish-, Dutch-, German-based Creoles), depending on the students’ language skills and preferences.

Course material

Digital course material (Required) : Nota’s hoorcolleges, discussies en uiteenzettingen., Canvas
Handbook (Recommended) : The Routledge Handbook of Pidgin and Creole Languages, Ansaldo, Umberto, New York: Routledge, 2021
Handbook (Recommended) : An introduction to pidgins and creole, Holm, John, Cambridge University Press, 2000
Handbook (Recommended) : The Handbook of Pidgin and Creole Studies, Kouwenberg, Silvia, Hoboken: Wiley, 2009
Handbook (Recommended) : Pidgins, Creoles and Mixed Language, Velupillai, Viveka, Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2015

Additional info

Documents from in-class exercises, via e-learning platform and personal notes taken in class

Learning Outcomes

General competencies

Students are able to summarize and critically evaluate different theories of creolization. They are able to describe the structures of Creole languages based on linguistic terminology and to compare them to the European base languages. Students are aware of the social embedding of Creole languages and the historical background which influences the multilingual setup of today’s postcolonial societies.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 60% of the final mark.
Other Exam determines 40% of the final mark.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

take-home exam with a relative weight of 60 which comprises 60% of the final mark.

Note: take-home exam

Within the Other Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Oral presentation with a relative weight of 40 which comprises 40% of the final mark.

Note: Oral presentation

Additional info regarding evaluation

The class will be taught in English. Receptive knowledge of a Romance language (esp. French or Portuguese) is not formally required, but will facilitate working with data and examples from Romance-based Creoles.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context