Free at Last: From Bound Morpheme to Discourse Marker in Lengua ri Palenge (Palenquero Creole Spanish)

The Spanish-lexified creole language spoken in the Afro-Colombian village of San Basilio de Palenque has become endangered due to ethnic and racial prejudice and discrimination. Recent changes in community attitudes, coupled with frequent visits by linguistic researchers, have resulted in heightened metalinguistic awareness as residents strive to speak the “best” Palenquero creole. One manifestation of “fancy” Palenquero speech is the detachment of bound verbal morphemes, which when freely reattached to other elements serve as discourse markers validating “true” Palenquero. The full range of emergent discourse validators is found among community members regarded as the “best” speakers and presented to visitors.