Non-French lexicon in Guianese French Creole

Abstract

Guianese French Creole1 (GFC) is one of the least studied French Creoles, which is especially true with respect to its non-French-related input. Combining sociohistorical, demographic and linguistic data, this contribution gives a first lexico-etymological account of the GFC lexicon of non-French origin, including Amerindian and Portuguese influences and especially the quantitative and qualitative nature of the contribution made by different Niger-Congo languages. These findings are discussed in light of controversial hypotheses on the particular influence of early numerical and/or socially dominant ethnolinguistic groups on the creole lexicon (i.e. Baker 2012), as well as with regard to word classes and semantic domains to which the different groups contributed. Whereas Gbe and non-Gbe languages clearly diverge with regard to their semantic contribution, the early dominance of presumably Gbe-speaking slaves in French Guiana is not reflected in the numerical proportion of Gbe-related lexical items in GFC, at least on the basis of my still limited data. This study thus tentatively confirms the lesser explanatory power of the lexicon for creole genesis scenarios and points to the fact that sub- or adstrate-related lexical items may have taken very complex etymological routes, which clearly need further study.