# Relexification

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{{Short description|Language change by vocabulary replacement or absorption}}In [linguistics](/source/linguistics), '''relexification''' is a mechanism of [language change](/source/language_change) by which one [language](/source/language) changes much or all of its [lexicon](/source/lexicon), including basic vocabulary, to the lexicon of another language, without drastically changing the relexified language's grammar. The term is principally used to describe [pidgin](/source/pidgin)s, [creoles](/source/creole_language), and [mixed language](/source/mixed_language)s.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Matthews|2007|p=343}}</ref><ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Campbell|Mixco|2007|p=170}}</ref><ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Crystal|2008|p=412}}</ref>

Relexification is not synonymous with [lexical borrowing](/source/loanword), by which a language merely ''supplements'' its basic vocabulary with loanwords from another language.

==Language creation and relexification hypothesis==
Relexification is a form of [language interference](/source/language_transfer) in which a [pidgin](/source/pidgin), a [creole](/source/creole_language) or a [mixed language](/source/mixed_language) takes nearly all of its lexicon from a [superstrate](/source/superstratum) or a [target language](/source/second_language) while its grammar comes from the [substrate](/source/Substratum_(linguistics)) or [source language](/source/source_language_(translation)) or, according to [universalist](/source/Universal_Grammar) theories, arises from universal principles of simplification and [grammaticalization](/source/grammaticalization). The language from which the lexicon is derived is called the "lexifier".<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Wardhaugh|2002|p=76}}</ref> [Michif](/source/Michif), [Media Lengua](/source/Media_Lengua), and [Lanc-Patuá creole](/source/Lanc-Patu%C3%A1_creole) are mixed languages that arose through relexification.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Bakker|1997}}, {{Harvcoltxt|Muysken|1981}}, {{Harvcoltxt|Wittmann|1994}}</ref>

A hypothesis that [all creole languages derive their grammar](/source/monogenetic_theory_of_pidgins) from the medieval [Mediterranean Lingua Franca](/source/Mediterranean_Lingua_Franca) was widely held in the late 1950s and the early 1960s, but it fell out of favour. It was later argued, for example, because of underlying similarities between [Haitian Creole](/source/Haitian_Creole) and [Fon language](/source/Fon_language) that the grammar of [Haitian Creole](/source/Haitian_Creole) is a substratum that was created when Fon-speaking African slaves relexified their language with [French](/source/French_language) vocabulary. However, the role of relexification in creole genesis is disputed by adherents of [generative grammar](/source/generative_grammar). {{Harvcoltxt|Wittmann|1994}}, {{Harvcoltxt|Wittmann|Fournier|1996}}, {{Harvcoltxt|Singler|1996}}, and {{Harvcoltxt|DeGraff|2002}}, for example, have argued that the similarities in syntax reflect a hypothetical [Universal Grammar](/source/Universal_Grammar), not the workings of relexification processes.

==Second language acquisition==
Spontaneous second language acquisition (and the genesis of pidgins) involves the gradual relexification of the native or source language with target-language vocabulary. After relexification is completed, native language structures alternate with structures acquired from the target language.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Bickerton|Odo|1976}}</ref>

==Conlangs and jargon==
In the context of [constructed language](/source/constructed_language)s, [jargon](/source/jargon)s, and [argot](/source/argot)s, the term is applied to the process of creating a language by substituting new vocabulary into the grammar of an existing language, often one's native language.<ref>Wittmann (1989, 1994).</ref>

While the practice is most often associated with novice constructed language designers, it may also be done as an initial stage towards creating a more sophisticated language. A language thus created is known as a ''relex''. For instance, [Lojban](/source/Lojban) began as a relex of [Loglan](/source/Loglan), but the languages' grammars have diverged since then.<ref>[Section on the term "relex"](/source/b%3AConlang%2FTypes) in the Conlang Wikibook</ref> The same process is at work in the genesis of [jargon](/source/jargon)s and [argot](/source/argot)s such as [Caló](/source/Cal%C3%B3_(Spanish_Romani)), a [natural language](/source/natural_language) used by [Gitanos](/source/Gitanos) that mixes a [Spanish](/source/Spanish_language) grammar with [Romany](/source/Romany_language) vocabulary.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Gamella|first1=Juan F.|last2=Fernández|first2=Cayetano|last3=Adiego|first3=Ignasi-Xavier|date=June 2015|title=The long agony of Hispanoromani. The remains of Caló in the speech of Spanish Gitanos|url=https://online.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/rs.2015.3|journal=[Romani Studies](/source/Romani_Studies_(journal))|language=en|volume=25|issue=1|pages=53–93|doi=10.3828/rs.2015.3|s2cid=141941862 |issn=1528-0748|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
==See also==
*[Stratum (linguistics)](/source/Stratum_(linguistics))

==Notes==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
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{{ref end}}

==Further reading==
* Arends, Jacques, Pieter Muysken & Norval Smith. 1995. ''Pidgins and Creoles: an introduction.'' Amsterdam: Benjamins.
* Sebba, Mark. 1997. ''Contact Languages: Pidgins and Creoles.'' Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire and London: Macmillan Press.
* {{citation |last1=Speer |first1=Rob |first2=Catherine |last2=Havasi |year=2004 |title=Meeting the Computer Halfway: Language Processing in the Artificial Language Lojban |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |url=http://web.mit.edu/rspeer/Public/jimpe.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141023083637/http://web.mit.edu/rspeer/Public/jimpe.pdf |archive-date=23 October 2014 |url-status=live }}

==External links==
*{{wikiversity-inline|Psycholinguistics/Pidgins, Creoles, and Home Sign#The Relexification Hypothesis}}

{{Constructed languages}}

Category:Pidgins and creoles

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