New book by dr Kanapik and prof. Chruszczewski
“Kreolingwistyka w zarysie” (“Creolinguistics in outline”) – a publication that gives voice to people often forgotten by the world and history! “Kreolingwistyka w zarysie” is a new book in the Beyond Language series by Dr. Knapik and Professor Chruszczewski!
How long does it take for enslaved people transported under inhumane conditions to a cotton plantation in the hold of a ship to forge a new language of contact? Did the language originate at the campfire, or was there a language first, and only later could you sit down and talk around the campfire? How and why do languages die? How to permanently revitalise dying languages? How many languages does the world speak? Why are translation studies and language didactics integral parts of contact linguistics? Why were enslaved people able to be so much more creative than their oppressors – the slave hunters? Why is it that what people do most often is talk? These questions and many others are answered in the latest book written by dr Aleksandra R. Knapik and professor Piotr P. Chruszczewski, “Kreolingwistyka w zarysie. Językowo-kulturowe mechanizmy przetrwania, rozwoju i dezintegracji” published by ᴁ Academic Publishing (San Diego, USA) in a series of academic monographs entitled “Beyond Language”.
The University of Wrocław is adding an important chapter to linguistic research with the publication of the first-ever book-length study of creolinguistics in Polish. Thus, the history of this young sub-discipline of anthropological linguistics and the introduction of contact linguistics into Polish academic research conducted in the Polish language begins at our university. Wrocław-based authors prof. Piotr P. Chruszczewski and dr Aleksandra R. Knapik present a novel view of the anthropology of language, proposing a completely new taxonomy of it. For whom is the book intended? As professor dr John R. Rickford of Stanford University (USA) writes: “This text, written in Polish, will serve both Polish students and experienced researchers as a valuable source of information in their native language about the mechanisms and processes at work in contact linguistics.” Professor Rickford, who wrote the book’s introduction, is one of the world’s leading names in anthropological linguistics, contact linguistics and sociolinguistics. He is professor emeritus of linguistics at Stanford University, one of the top universities in the US; former president of the Linguistic Society of America. A person who fits perfectly into the model of the American dream, for John Rickford started out as a Guyanese man in very humble circumstances. According to his idea, an experimental attempt was made to introduce Ebonics as a language of instruction in some schools in the US as a means of communication among Afro-American youth. Co-author of the book etitled “The Spoken Soul. The Story of Black English” (winner of the American Book Award in 2000). Prof. Rickford, in his introduction to the book “Creolinguistics in Outline,” writes as follows: “Contact languages focus attention on social history, providing richer models and methods of anthropological or sociolinguistic analysis than many other languages; they also draw researchers’ attention to practical educational issues and national language policy. (…) This introduction to creolinguistics is also invaluable because it points to excellent examples of Polish scholars who conducted innovative anthropolinguistic and ethnographic research long before the term “contact linguistics” was coined. These are researchers such as , for example, Jan N. Baudouin de Courtenay, Mikołaj Kruszewski, Bronisław Piłsudski, Jan Michał Rozwadowski, Wacław Sieroszewski, Maria Czaplicka, Bronisław Malinowski, and Tadeusz Milewski.” The second author of the book’s introduction is professor Donald Winford (Ohio State University, USA). This scientist writes about the book by the Wroclaw authors as follows: “The study of Creole languages has become an integral part of contact linguistics – an interdisciplinary research discipline that seeks to comprehend the interplay of socio-historical, socio-cultural, linguistic and psycholinguistic factors in the evolution of all languages, recognizing the fact that all languages have been shaped by contact with other languages at some stage of their history.” Creolinguistics explores a diverse set of issues fundamental to understanding the evolution of language itself. (…) This work has great potential to bring together both research traditions and scholars from different fields – first, by expanding research directions that are already firmly established in the English-speaking world, and second, by creating a fresh stream for future research and debates, both on language contact and the processes and mechanisms involved.”
What exactly is creolinguistics? Prof. Chruszczewski and dr Knapik explain it in the book: “Creolistics” is a subdiscipline of contact linguistics, located within anthropological linguistics. Creolistics studies the processes and describes the mechanisms of formation, development and disintegration of contact languages, i.e. mainly pidgin, Creole and mixed languages, which form and change with the development of social contacts. Knowledge of creolistics processes and mechanisms of language and culture can contribute not only to the development of language and culture itself, but, above all, to the preservation of at least a small fragment of the extraordinary symbolic richness located in every language and culture.”
We cordially invite you to watch a short film made during the Wrocław Good Books Fair with the participation of the book’s authors prof. Piotr P. Chruszczewski and dr Aleksandra R. Knapik, as well as the publishers dr Joanna Esquibel and Dominik Esquibel, who flew in from sunny California’s San Diego for the event.
First of all, however, we invite you to read “Creolinguistics in Outline,” the text of a book describing in detail “linguistic and cultural mechanisms of survival, development and disintegration,” published by ᴁ Academic Publishing (San Diego, USA) in a series of scholarly monographs entitled. “Beyond Language.
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Prof. Piotr P. Chruszczewski
Head of Interdisciplinary Individual Studies at UWr, certified tutor, descendant of slaves of the Third Reich. Linguist, English and American Studies scholar. He focuses his research interests on anthropological linguistics, creolinguistics, the linguistics of language-culture contact and accompanying language change, linguistic pragmatics, communication studies, discourse studies, writing theory, the anthropology of writing practices and runology. He works on the communication communities of America, Scandinavia Italy, conducts field research; supports advanced interdisciplinary research.
Dr Aleksandra R. Knapik
She works at the General Tadeusz Kościuszko Military University of Land Forces in Wrocław. English specialist in contact linguistics, sociolinguistics, translation studies and rhetoric and communication. She is one of the founders of the Polish Society for the Study of Man and Evolution, and conducts research on the Maltese language and Jamaican creole, among other subjects.
