ABSTRACT
The eld of contact linguistics has become more inclusive of late, with increasing attention being paid to the processes and principles of change that are shared across different types of contact languages. One signicant development in this regard is the growing rapport between creole linguistics and studies of second-language acquisition (SLA), particularly cases of group SLA or language shift. The New Englishes fall into the latter category, and their relationship to creoles has long been a matter of discussion (see Harris [1986], Odlin [1997], etc. on Irish English; Ho and Platt [1993] on Singapore English). So far, however, we have had no comprehensive comparison of processes that led to the formation of creoles and New Englishes.
