Open Access

Miguel Gutiérrez Maté

• This chapter deals with the origins of generic-noun-based indefinites (according to the terminology of the WALS) in two Ibero-Romance varieties, the Spanish-lexified Palenquero Creole and the heterogeneous group of postcolonial varieties of Portuguese that are spoken in the exclave of Cabinda (Angola). Both varieties have in common the fact that they have been influenced by the same “substrate”, the Bantu H language Kikongo. Both substratal influence and language universals during first- and/or second-language acquisition seem to interact in the making of indefinite expressions, as they always interact in restructuring phenomena found in language contact ecologies. However, as regards indefinite expressions, there are substantial differences between Palenquero and Cabindan Portuguese, due to the fact that the latter often retains the special indefinites from the superstrate, whereas most Spanish special indefinites have been lost in the former (with some exceptions, most especially náThis chapter deals with the origins of generic-noun-based indefinites (according to the terminology of the WALS) in two Ibero-Romance varieties, the Spanish-lexified Palenquero Creole and the heterogeneous group of postcolonial varieties of Portuguese that are spoken in the exclave of Cabinda (Angola). Both varieties have in common the fact that they have been influenced by the same “substrate”, the Bantu H language Kikongo. Both substratal influence and language universals during first- and/or second-language acquisition seem to interact in the making of indefinite expressions, as they always interact in restructuring phenomena found in language contact ecologies. However, as regards indefinite expressions, there are substantial differences between Palenquero and Cabindan Portuguese, due to the fact that the latter often retains the special indefinites from the superstrate, whereas most Spanish special indefinites have been lost in the former (with some exceptions, most especially ná < nada). The two varieties studied here result from different language contact ecologies, which account for quantitative and qualitative differences between the two varieties.…