Evolution, Acquisition and Development of Syntax

Dany Adone is Professor and Chair of Applied Linguistics at the University of Cologne and Co-director of the Centre for Australian Studies. She has engaged with Indigenous Communities in the Indian Ocean, the Pacific and Australia, since the late 1980s. Astrid Gabel is a lecturer at the Department of English at the University of Cologne. Her main research interests are in the areas of Syntax, the Minimalist Program, Pidgins and Creoles and Language Contact.

• 1. Introduction Dany Adone and Astrid Gabel; Part I. The Evolution of Syntax: 2. From the protolanguage spectrum to the underlying bases of language Michael A. Arbib; 3. From protolanguage to deuterolanguage: the importance of compounds Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy; 4. The SOV mystery and language evolution T. Givón; 5. Broken windows: Creoles, Pidgins, and language evolution Paul T. Roberge; 6. Roots of syntax: Anaphora and Negation in Creoles William O'Grady; Part II. The Acquisition of Syntax: 7. Acquisition of negation in Jamaican Tamirand Nnena De Lisser and Stephanie Durrleman; 8. Missing subjects in creole acquisition: insights from Jamaican and Morisyen – Tamirand Nnena De Lisser and Stephanie Durrleman; 9. Home signs as a window on language creation Dany Adone; 10. Young children creating grammars: are twins' languages like Pidgins or Creoles? Peter Bakker; Part III. The Development of Syntax: 11. A matter of degree: all languages are mixed Marlyse Baptista and Olivia Sedlacek; 12. Negative concord in Creole languages: commonality and variation in the perspective of Bickerton's legacy Viviane Déprez; 13. Contrasting the NPs of Indian ocean French creoles Georges Daniel Véronique; 14. The nature and development of the 'Quacking Duck' Astrid Gabel; 15. Beyond creole: Reflexive constructions in Cape Verdean Portuguese Nélia Alexandre and Dominika Swolkien; 16. Decreolization: a special case of language change? Oliver Mayeux; 17. Index.