ABSTRACT
This chapter plays tribute to John R. Rickford’s language contact work in the Caribbean and United States and highlights his international influence. The main part of the chapter examines connections between the creolist and variationist strands in Rickford’s work with sociolinguistic studies in South Africa. I will highlight aspects of my own work that have operated in parallel with that of Rickford in relation to (1) plantation and post-plantation sociolinguistics of the country’s large population of Indian origin, (2) pidgin linguistics pertaining to the contact language, Fanakalo, (3) studies of youth languages in relation to urban vernaculars and ‘styling,’ and (4) the role of Black English varieties in post-apartheid South Africa.
