Résumé
When talking about relexification (and restructuring) in the context of Papiamentu/o, the focus has usually been on the period between 1650 and 1800, in which supposedly Portuguese word material has been claimed to have been replaced by Spanish. This assumption must first be questioned from a socio-historical perspective and updated with current data – especially against the background of the demographic and sociolinguistic situation – by modeling and weighing up the concrete influence of Spanish on the creole of the ABC islands.
Based on written and oral data, the paper will examine later restructuring processes in Papiamentu/o. It will focus in particular on the development of deixis, junction as well as gerundial and passive constructions. Our observations reveal contact phenomena as well as autonomous Creole developments. Spanish elements have frequently been adopted, but not always with the corresponding constellations of meanings (cf. Sanchez 2002). Due to the complex language contact situation, in which Dutch and English have long played an important role alongside Spanish, various influences as well as convergence phenomena are to be detected.
