Definition of decreolize in US English:
decreolize
(British decreolise)
verbdēˈkrēəˌlīzdēˈkrēəˌlīz
[with object]usually as adjective decreolizedModify (a Creole language) toward the local standard language.
Example sentencesExamples
- There is also clear evidence that Plantation Creole decreolized more slowly in the plantation areas, where groups of slaves lived largely autonomous lives.
- Earlier, more divergent Creole forms have since become decreolized.
- If truly complete decreolization in fact occurred, then mergers would have to be reversed, so that the decreolized dialect is just like the (never-merged) standard.
- If Samana English represents US Black English, BE had been already decreolized by then, or had never been a Creole in the first place.
- Like the additional phonemes seen above, the forms in tend to occur only in an extremely decreolized variety of Kriol, as we shall see below.
Derivatives
noun-ˌkrēələˈzāSHən
Evolution implies a normal process, while what's happening here is a decreolization, a loss of the language, a transformation of the language as a result of the pressure of exterior forces.
Example sentencesExamples
- Creolization and decreolization can be coexistent, as they are for instance in Papua New Guinea.
- Repertoire extension adds another dimension to decreolization because it is more than simple replacement.
- In complete decreolization, the dialect gradually disappears, and the population eventually comes to speak the standard language.
- ‘The decreolization of Haitian Creole could be checked by a vigorous program of standardization and instrumentalization.’