ONLINE FIRST - The Role of Geographical Influences in the Development of Creole Languages

This research paper looks at the role of geographical influences in the emergence of Creole languages and how colonization, trade routes, migration and contact of different linguistic communities contributed to the development of these languages. Paying attention to the most popular Creole languages in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, and West Africa, the work investigates how environmental and sociopolitical circumstances led to the peculiarities of phonological, syntactic, and lexical characteristics of these languages. In a comparative perspective, the paper points out how isolation, multilingualism and cultural exchange interact to bring about Creole. According to the findings, geographical factors did not only dictate linguistic hybridization but also dictated the social status as well as standardization of Creole languages. This paper adds to wider debates in sociolinguistics and creolistics based on the inseparability of place and language development.