In this seminar, I propose a uniformitarian perspective according to which language contact feeds a process of grammatical hybridization necessary for linguistic change and language evolution. According to this approach, we can paraphrase Alain Rey by asserting that French and Haitian Creole " are two creoles derived from Latin. "
Enoch O. Aboh, originally from Benin, is Professor of Formal Linguistics at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He is the author of The Emergence of Hybrid Grammars: Language Contact and Change (2015), published by Cambridge University Press, which deals with the emergence of grammar in a multilingual context. Based on the study of Creoles, he argues that in any acquisition situation, learners, confronted with heterogeneous and variedinput, select relevant linguistic features which they " recombine " into a grammatical system enabling them to communicate effectively in their community. This grammatical system is hybrid in nature. He therefore concludes that the acquisition of any language gives rise to a hybrid grammar. His most recent research projects focus on the constraints on hybrid grammar and what these constraints teach us about typological variation and cognition. Enoch O. Aboh is co-founder of the African Linguistics School (ALS), a school whose aim is to disseminate advances in formal linguistics among African students and to promote research interest in African languagesin situ.
