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In the Surinamese creole language Sranan, verbs in finite clauses that lack overt TMA-marking are often considered to be ambiguous between past and present interpretations (depending on the lexical aspect of the verb involved) or analyzed as having a perfective value. We claim that these verbs are in fact zero-marked, and we investigate the various uses of this zero expression in relation to context and lexical aspect on the basis of corpus data and native speaker elicitations. It is shown that existing analyses do not cover and unify all the various uses of the construction. We propose, as an alternative, to regard the zero form as present perfective marker, whereby tense and aspect are conceived of as fundamentally epistemic categories, in line with Langacker (1991). This combination of present tense and perfective aspect, which is regarded as infelicitous in typological studies of tense and aspect (cf. the 'present perfective paradox', Malchukov 2009), gives rise to the various interpretations associated with zero. However, in all of its uses, zero still indicates that, at the most basic level, a situation belongs to the speaker's conception of 'immediate reality' (her domain of 'inclusion'). This basic 'presentness' distinguishes zero from the past-tense marker ben, which implies dissociation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impact that the Dutch language had on the Eastern Maroon Creole language in the Netherlands' colony of Suriname from the mid 17th century through the 20th century. The article discusses and compares the lexicon of the Dutch and Eastern Maroon languages. An overview of the influence of Sranantongo (Sranan language) on the Ndyuka dialect is provided. The Surinamese Maroon radio station Koyeba, including the Maroon, English and Dutch languages used in its radio broadcasts, are also discussed.

The article discusses Ningretongo and Bakratongo, which are varieties of the English creole language Sranantongo (Sranan language), in Netherlands' colony of Suriname during the 18th century. Particular focus is given to relationship between race and ethnicity and language variation in Suriname. An overview of the race relations between Suriname's African slaves and the colony's white population is provided. Suriname's plantations, including cotton, sugar cane and cocoa plantations, are discussed. An overview of the influence of the English language on Ningretongo and Bakratongo is also provided.

The Sranan verb taigi ‘say to, tell’ is used when a dative object is identified, but in the 18th and 19th centuries taki ‘say, tell, speak, talk’ served this function. This paper explores the early uses of taki alongside variants taki gi and taki na, which paired the optionally ditransitive verb with an optional dative marker. Working from a corpus of Sranan texts spanning the 18th and 19th centuries, I consider the distributions of the three variants and the distinctive uses of gi and na as dative markers to argue for the eventual triumph and contraction of taki gi, looking to the superstrate and substrate languages for potential models. I submit that taki gi was idiomatized and the string syntactically reanalyzed with the result that gi was reinterpreted as an obligatory, rather than optional, dative marker, and that this reanalysis resulted in the decline of taki as an optionally ditransitive verb. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the language of the early Surinamese creoles in the Suriname Creole Archive (SUCA). An overview of the Surinamese creole languages, how the languages have evolved and influenced by Dutch then English, and how it was included in the SUCA along with the other group of languages from early Sranan and Saramaccan are presented. It states that the Surinamese creole languages are considered special among other group of languages. Moreover, it presents some of the numerous historical texts in both Sranan and Saramaccaan that have been collected, which linguists are using as historical background references in various studies. The objectives of SUCA in bringing together digital versions of all relevant historical documents are discussed.

Guerssel et al. (1985) propose that crosslinguistically, separation verbs group into cut verbs and break verbs based on their meaning. This meaning supposedly affects the constructions in which the verbs occur, e.g., only break verbs are expected to participate in the causative/inchoative alternation. In Sranan, a verb that superficially looks like cut in English is actually a break verb. Also, not only break verbs participate in the causative/inchoative alternation, as expected, but cut verbs do also. I argue that the intransitive use of cut verbs does not yield a passive construction as proposed by some; instead, it is inchoative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares “cut” and “break” verbs in four variants of Gbe, namely Anfoe, Anlo, Fon and Ayizo, with those of Sranan. “Cut” verbs are change-of-state verbs that co-lexicalize the type of action that brings about a change, the type of instrument or instrument part, and the manner in which a change occurs. By contrast, break verbs co-lexicalize either the type of object or the type of change. It has been hypothesized that “cut”-verbs are unergative while breaks verbs are unaccusatives. For example “break” verbs participate in the causative alternation constructions but “cut” verbs don’t. We show that although there are some differences in the meanings of “cut” and break verbs across the Gbe languages, significant generalizations can be made with regard to their lexicalization patterns. By contrast, the meanings of “cut” and break verbs in Sranan are closer to those of their etymons in English and Dutch. However, despite the differences in the meanings of “cut” and “break” verbs between the Gbe languages and Sranan, the syntax of the verbs in Sranan is similar to that of the Eastern Gbe variants, namely Fon and Ayizo. We look at the implications of our findings for the relexification hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the formation of the Sranan Tongo creole language in Surinam using the SWARM 2.1.1 computer modeling technique. Occurrence of creolization if the invented system becomes the native language of the speech community; Hypotheses for how biological linguistic properties and social contact contribute to the formation of creole languages; Analysis of the country's historical records.

This paper concerns the orthography of Sranan, an English-lexicon creole spoken by a majority of the population in Surinam (South America), which also has many speakers in the Netherlands. Sranan has a long written tradition and has had two official orthographies, but it is still often written informally using conventions largely derived from Dutch. Social and ideological issues always accompany the development of an orthography but are often viewed as lying outside the realm of linguistics. In this paper I survey the orthographic practices, past and present, used in writing Sranan, to argue that orthographies are shaped less by the phonological facts of the language concerned than by social and cultural factors in the context where the orthography is used. The most important of these are the nature of bilingualism among the literate part of the population while the orthography is developing; literacy practices within the community as a whole; and ideological beliefs concerning languages and their speakers, both inside and outside the speech community. I argue for the view that orthography is a social practice embedded in the social and cultural practices of the writers and speakers of the language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]