The worlds simplest grammars are creole grammars

TLDR

All languages are often claimed to have equal complexity. The paper introduces a complexity metric based on the overt signalling of phonetic, morphological, syntactic, and semantic distinctions beyond communicative necessity and aims to support a paradigm that creole languages can be delineated synchronically and sociohistorically. The authors develop a metric that quantifies the overt signalling of linguistic distinctions beyond communicative necessity. The metric shows that creole languages, originating as pidgins, have lower grammatical complexity than older languages, and this difference persists even when compared to older languages without inflection, challenging claims that creole typology is merely a result of low inflection.

Abstract

It is often stated that all languages are equal in terms of complexity. This paper introduces a metric of complexity, determined by degree of overt signalling of various phonetic, morphological, syntactic, and semantic distinctions beyond communicative necessity. By this metric, a subset of creole languages display less overall grammatical complexity than older languages, by virtue of the fact that they were born as pidgins, and thus stripped of almost all features unnecessary to communication, and since then have not existed as natural languages for a long enough time for diachronic drift to create the weight of “ornament” that encrusts older languages. It is demonstrated that this complexity differential remains robust even when creoles are compared with older languages lacking inflection, contra claims by theoretical syntacticians that the typology of creoles is largely a manifestation of parameter settings resulting from low inflection. The overall aim is to bolster a general paradigm arguing that creole languages are delineable synchronically as well as sociohistorically.