The social context of creolization Edited by Ellen Woolford and William Washabaugh (review)

940LANGUAGE, VOLUME 60, NUMBER 4 (1984) lish, (3) universale ofbilingual behavior, (4) contrastive discourse, (5) the 'transcreation ' of local language styles in NNEL's, and (6) code-switching and codemixing . In summary, Kachru's main purposes in undertaking this project are well served by the resulting volume. The case for the independence of NNVE's as local standards, and that for the inherent interest of NNVE's as objects of scholarly attention, are equally convincing. If there is a shortcoming in the work, it is that little advantage is taken of the now voluminous research on second-language acquisition. It is to be hoped that researchers in NNVE's and those who work in second-language acquisition will join forces to extend their current domains of research in areas of overlapping interest. In any case, I look forward to continued research on NNVE's, with resultant deepening and broadening of our understanding of linguistic phenomena. [Received 10 October 1983.] The social context of creolization. Edited by Ellen Woolford and William Washabaugh. Ann Arbor: Karoma, 1983. Pp. 149. Cloth $15.50, paper $12.50. Reviewed by Jeffrey Williams, University of Texas, Austin* This collection is another contribution to the growing number of anthologies in the field of creóle studies, and is the first to focus specifically on social contexts. The editors state that this volume presents a systematic re-evaluation of hypotheses on the social aspects of pidginization and creolization, based on a broader range of data than previous studies have considered. While such reevaluation is indeed necessary, this volume falls short of its goal. As a group, the papers demonstrate little cohesion—though taken individually, most are provocative and insightful. The volume regrettably perpetuates the patchwork nature of the creóle field. Woolford's 'Introduction' (1-9) sets out to develop testable models for the various hypotheses of creolization. Although rightly criticizing certain unsound and impressionistic discussions of this process, she does not include other proposals that have figured prominently in the development of the field, most notably those of Granda 1976; Hancock 1972, 1976, 1980a,b; and Le Page 1977, 1980. Each of the above has provided models and hypotheses which have later been used by other creolists and sociolinguists (cf. Edwards 1983, Holm 1978, Niles 1980, Trudgill 1983). Many of the issues addressed by W's introduction have already been discussed elsewhere, including the argument that pidginization and creolization should be treated as ordinary linguistic phenomena; this was not only the topic ofHancock 1980b, but was suggested more than a century ago by Van Name 1870. An introduction which thoroughly reviewed and critically evaluated the existing theories of pidginization and creolization would have been a great service both to the book's readers and to the field at large. * This review has benefited from the comments of Ian Hancock, John Baugh, and Keith Walters. Any errors are my own. REVIEWS941 Ross Clark's 'Social contexts of early South Pacific pidgins' (10-27) is an excellent example of the use of socio-historical evidence in conjunction with linguistic data to reconstruct the early social contexts ofpidginization and creolization in the Pacific region. Had Clark recognized the similarities between the early Pacific situation and that of the Guinea Coast of West Africa, he could have strengthened his arguments. Parallels in social context among unrelated geographical regions that have produced similar linguistic results should be of interest to those creolists seeking a re-evaluation of existing hypotheses. The linguistic and cultural similarities between Oceania and the African coastal situation are striking, especially in light oftheir apparently unrelated histories. In both regions, the early position of the Europeans was that of a minority within the larger society. This situation had far-reaching implications in terms of the social and linguistic behavior of these individuals, and the impact they would later have on the larger society. In both regions, some Europeans 'went native' in all aspects of culture, including language (cf. Maude 1964 for discussion of the Pacific situation). The early whaling operations in the Pacific were in many ways similar to the offshore slaving operations of the Dutch and English on the lower Guinea Coast of West Africa. In both situations...