Variation in Preposition Use in the Virgin Islands Dutch Creole (VIDC) Cluster

There is a growing consensus that the varieties of Virgin Islands Dutch Creole (VIDC) - often referred to as Negerhollands - should not be viewed as a single language, but rather as a language cluster of related varieties. However, there has been only limited systematic comparison of the varieties in the cluster as to their structural characteristics. We will try to fill this gap in this paper by charting a specific construction: the supra-locative prepositional phrases in two varieties of VIDC: the 20th century data recorded by Josselin de Jong and the variety in the 18th century religious texts. A systematic search in the VIDC data is possible because of the data base constructed for this language with the support of Clarin-NL. We will try to contrast the feature studied with those found in 17th century Dutch informal writings and in two relevant West-African languages: Akan and Ewegbe. The theoretical model used here derives from the notion of feature pool.