Language Contact and the Making of an Afro-Hispanic Vernacular

Sandro Sessarego is an Associate Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Texas, Austin. He is author of a number of books including La schiavitù nera nell'America spagnola (2018), Afro-Peruvian Spanish (2015) and The Afro-Bolivian Spanish Determiner Phrase (2014).

• 1. Introduction; 2. The place of Chocó Spanish in the Spanish creole debate; 3. A sketch of Chocó Spanish; 4. Roots of some languages; 5. Black slavery in the Pacific lowlands of Colombia; 6. Testing the legal hypothesis of Creole genesis on colonial Chocó; 7. Final considerations.

'The final considerations emphasize, among other ideas, the importance of articulation in the humanities, and therein lies its greatest strength: this text not only contributes to creolistics and the study of language acquisition, but also allows other disciplines to demonstrate the interpretation of colonial documentary sources and the power of comparative law to understand the history of communication forms among Afro-descendant populations. Furthermore, it highlights the resilience and expressive richness of Black communities while offering an example of the use of the colonial archive and historical discourse.' Gloria J. Morales Osorio, Revista de Estudios Colombianos