Etymological Dictionary of the French Creoles in America

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In synchronic perspective, the DECA aims at an exhaustive inventory of the lexicon of the French-based creoles spoken in Louisiana, Haiti, Lesser Antilles (Guadeloupe, Marie-Galante, Martinique, St. Lucia), and French Guiana, which have emerged in the former French colonies from the 17th century onwards. The dictionary – like the Dictionnaire étymologique des créoles français de l’Océan Indien (DECOI) published in four volumes 1993-2007 – is conceived as a supplement to the Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch of Walther von Wartburg (FEW) which serves as a methodological model with regard to its structure and the presentation of the data.In diachronic perspective the dictionary documents origin, development and composition of the creole lexicon, but it is also intended as a contribution to research into the varieties of overseas French. The varieties of French in Canada (Quebec, Acadie) today are well documented, but the Caribbean ones have not received much attention until recently. French specialists in the field consider regional French and creoles of the Caribbean as an „ensemble“ to be analyzed together in order to shed light on spoken French of the colonial period (17th-18th century). In this respect the DECA makes an im-portant contribution to basic research in the fields of diachronic phonetics and phonology as well as lexical and cognitive semantics of regional French and creole.