Indefinite pronouns with thing and person in two Ibero-Romance/Kikongo varieties: Palenquero Creole and Cabindan Portuguese

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