John H. McWhorter is Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Towards a New Model of Creole Genesis (1997), The Word on the Street: Fact and Fable about American English (1998), and Spreading the Word: Language and Dialect in America (1999).

• Acknowledgments 1. Introduction 2. Where Are the Spanish Creoles? 2.1. Introduction 2.2. Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, and Mexico 2.3. "There Are Spanish Creoles": Papiamentu and Palenquero 2.4. "There Were Spanish Creoles": Bozal Spanish and the "Extinct Pan-Hispanic Creole" 2.5. "There Will Turn Out to Be Spanish Creoles" 2.6. Accommodating the Theory to the Data: Societes d'Habitations versus Plantations 2.7. The Spanish as Kinder, Gentler Colonizers 2.8. "Nothing Is at Issue": The "Case-by-Case" Argument 2.9. Conclusion 3. The Atlantic English-Based Creoles: Sisters Under the Skin 3.1. Introduction 3.2. Methodology 3.3. The Features 3.4. A Closer Look 3.5. Implications 3.6. Sociohistorical Evidence 3.7. Summary 4. The Creationist at a Cocktail Party: Afrogenesis and the Atlantic English-Based Creoles 4.1. Introduction 4.2. Dating the Emergence of Sranan 4.3. A Theoretical Anomaly 4.4. Barbados? 4.5. West African Trade Settlements 4.6. The Cormantin Castle 4.7. Linguistic Evidence for the Cormantin Scenario 4.8. Preserving the Paradigm 4.9. Hancock's Domestic Hypothesis 4.10. Conclusion 5. Off the Plantation for Good: The French-Based Creoles 5.1. Introduction 5.2. Linguistic Data 5.3. Sociohistorical Evidence 5.5. Exploring Other Perspectives 5.6. The Portuguese Creoles 5.7. The Dutch Question 5.8. Conclusion 6. Synthesis 6.1. Geocentrism and Creole Studies 6.2. The Afrogenesis Hypothesis: Fundamental Outline 6.3. The Afrogenesis Hypothesis: Elaboration 6.4. The Afrogenesis Hypothesis: Problems Become Predictions 6.5. The Afrogenesis Hypothesis: Changing the Lens 6.6. The Case-by-Case Argument 6.7. The Reality of the Paradigm 7. Conclusion 7.1. The Middle Ground 7.2. The Domain of the Afrogenesis Hypothesis 7.3. Standards of Evaluation 7.4. Curtain References Index

John H. McWhorter is Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Towards a New Model of Creole Genesis (1997), The Word on the Street: Fact and Fable about American English (1998), and Spreading the Word: Language and Dialect in America (1999).

• Acknowledgments 1. Introduction 2. Where Are the Spanish Creoles? 2.1. Introduction 2.2. Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, and Mexico 2.3. "There Are Spanish Creoles": Papiamentu and Palenquero 2.4. "There Were Spanish Creoles": Bozal Spanish and the "Extinct Pan-Hispanic Creole" 2.5. "There Will Turn Out to Be Spanish Creoles" 2.6. Accommodating the Theory to the Data: Societes d'Habitations versus Plantations 2.7. The Spanish as Kinder, Gentler Colonizers 2.8. "Nothing Is at Issue": The "Case-by-Case" Argument 2.9. Conclusion 3. The Atlantic English-Based Creoles: Sisters Under the Skin 3.1. Introduction 3.2. Methodology 3.3. The Features 3.4. A Closer Look 3.5. Implications 3.6. Sociohistorical Evidence 3.7. Summary 4. The Creationist at a Cocktail Party: Afrogenesis and the Atlantic English-Based Creoles 4.1. Introduction 4.2. Dating the Emergence of Sranan 4.3. A Theoretical Anomaly 4.4. Barbados? 4.5. West African Trade Settlements 4.6. The Cormantin Castle 4.7. Linguistic Evidence for the Cormantin Scenario 4.8. Preserving the Paradigm 4.9. Hancock's Domestic Hypothesis 4.10. Conclusion 5. Off the Plantation for Good: The French-Based Creoles 5.1. Introduction 5.2. Linguistic Data 5.3. Sociohistorical Evidence 5.5. Exploring Other Perspectives 5.6. The Portuguese Creoles 5.7. The Dutch Question 5.8. Conclusion 6. Synthesis 6.1. Geocentrism and Creole Studies 6.2. The Afrogenesis Hypothesis: Fundamental Outline 6.3. The Afrogenesis Hypothesis: Elaboration 6.4. The Afrogenesis Hypothesis: Problems Become Predictions 6.5. The Afrogenesis Hypothesis: Changing the Lens 6.6. The Case-by-Case Argument 6.7. The Reality of the Paradigm 7. Conclusion 7.1. The Middle Ground 7.2. The Domain of the Afrogenesis Hypothesis 7.3. Standards of Evaluation 7.4. Curtain References Index