**** Demography, pidginization, creolization ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UP: <[LINK]>

Baker and Corne cite three demographic "events" that partially determined the extent and timing of pidginization and creolization in Reunion and Isle de France, islands in the Indian ocean east of Madagascar. The "events" (quotation marks are the authors') are:

" 1. when the number of slaves, who included several different

ethnic groups speaking unrelated languages, surpassed the

number of members of the 'ruling class;'

2. when the number locally-born slaves surpassed the total

number of members of the rulihng class (both foreign- and

locally-born);

3. when the regular supply of slave immigrants came to an end."

I find these "events" valuable as a heuristic device, but the actual processes involved were surely graded rather than discrete, and tempered or exacerbated by other factors as well.

For more details on the demographic context, go to <[LINK]>

• ........................................... \/PgDn\/ for sources
• .............................................. /\PgUp/\ for text Philip Baker and Chris Corne (1986), "Universals, Substrata and the Indian Ocean Creoles," in Muysken and Smith, _Substrata vs Universals_; 165-167.