On the Non-Universality of Functional Projections and the Effects on Parametrized Variation: Evidence from Creoles

Marlyse Baptista

Abstract

As a rule, Creole languages display minimal or no verbal inflectional 
morphology. However, in this paper, I show that anterior markers in Creoles 
exhibit different distributional properties, and that a few Creoles even 
develop Tense inflection.  I argue that those properties can be correlated to 
specific syntactic effects and to the Split Infl Parameter, following Bobaljik 
and Thrainsson (1998). On this issue, I investigate if parametrized 
variation can be predicted between the Creoles with inflectional verbal 
morphology (Capeverdean Creole and Louisiana Creole for instance) and those 
without.  I try to show that the position of anterior markers may be 
symptomatic of a different clausal architecture for the Creoles under 
investigation.  More precisely, I argue that Creoles with inflectional tense 
markers may have additional heads and specifiers in their clausal structure 
accounting for a constellation of uncommon syntactic constructions (in the 
realm of Creole languages) such as V-raising, subject-verb inversion and 
post-Neg subjects.  

Key words:
Creoles
Syntax
Parametric variation
(Non)-universality of functional projections