Pidgins and Creoles (Q1086A)

15 credits, Level 5

Spring teaching

This module gets you started with pidgin and creole languages, with a focus on their structural properties, including morphology, syntax and phonology.

Key topics include:

• word order
• tense, mood, and aspect systems
• serial verb constructions
• relative clauses
• information structure.

Phonological topics covered include a description of creole sound systems and their prosodic properties, from syllable structure to tone.

You'll also look into the unique sociocultural history of pidgins and creoles, alongside theoretical approaches to their emergence. You'll explore the circumstances under which creole formation occurs and the theories concerning the origins of creole grammatical features.

You'll also benefit from a typological survey of creoles from around the world, including those with lexifier languages other than English.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 22 hours of contact time and about 128 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2022/23. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.