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Reconsidering Creole exceptionalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

Derek Bickerton
Derek Bickerton*
Affiliation:
University of Hawaii
*
P.O. Box 1040, Waialua, HI 96791 [derbick@hawaii.rr.com]
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Extract

DeGraffs Discussion Note in Language 79.2.391-410 (‘Against Creole exceptionalism’, henceforth ACE) combines an accusation that the views of many, perhaps most of his creolist colleagues are vitiated by (perhaps unconscious) racial prejudice with the espousal of a theory of Creole genesis that has been around for a century or more without earning the support of more than a handful of creolists. ACE represents a striking volte-face from the moderate and open-minded approach of DeGraff 1999. In this work, DeGraff sought out the best points from a variety of approaches and attempted to synthesize them. In contrast, ACE mounts a single-minded crusade against what is probably a majority of creolists, including several of the invited contributors to DeGraff 1999, on the basis of seriously flawed evidence.

Information

Type
Discussion Notes
Information
Language , Volume 80 , Issue 4 , December 2004 , pp. 828 - 833
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 Linguistic Society of America

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Footnotes

*

I am grateful to the anonymous referee who pointed out the significance of DeGraff's use of the notion ‘reflexive scholarship’.

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