This thesis is divided into four sections. Section One
is introductory, and starts with a mention of the theories about the origins, and definitions of pidgin and creole languages. It also discusses the historical and linguistic background to Krio, tentatively postulates an acrolect-basilect continuum and undertakes to describe the dynamic state of native Krio speech. The section ends with a phonological study of Krio.
Section Two discusses the Phonology of English-derived
words in Krio. It examines the eclectic nature of the British' influence, discussing the systemic, phonotactic and phonetic features of the various British accents that may have contributed to the formation of modern Krio phonological structure. The contribution of the phonological structure of the African substratum is
also discussed and reference is made to similarities with other creole languages. Section Two ends with a study of the correspondences between stress patterns in the English forms and tone patterns in the Krio cognates, as well as tone patterns in creolised forms and calques.
Section Three is about the Morphology of English-derived
words in Krio. It deals with the effects of decreolisation on inflectional and derivational morphology as well as Krio creations from English patterns. It also examines word-compounding, and the phonology and morphology of English-derived reduplications in detail.
The final section is entitled: The Lexico-semantics of
English-derived words in Krio. It considers the question of when an English word can be regarded as acceptable as a Krio word; the various historical as well as current sources of the English-derived vocabulary of Krio; conditions affecting their adoption and the lexical fields they occur in; the word classes from which adoption
has taken place and word class functional shifts and splits; lexical innovations in Krio, including lexical splits and folk etymology; the semantics of reduplications; and, finally, semantic modifications.