The copula sendá in the revitalization of Palenquero Creole. Fresh evidence

This study provides a first description of the distribution of the copular items of the Spanish-lexified Creole Palenquero (San Basilio de Palenque, Colombia). Notably, besides the descriptions of the occurrence of the oppositional couple ta/é (and its variants era and jue), the distribution of the third and most innovative copula sendá (< Sp. sentar(se) ‘to sit’) has not yet been clarified. This study reveals that the distribution of the copulas é/jue/era ~ sendá is stratified by age. Although sendá has been recorded in previous traditional corpora with low frequency of occurrence, this paper demonstrates that young Palenquero speakers nowadays regularly select the copula sendá in both attributive and identificational equative copular constructions. Elderly traditional speakers prefer using the copulas é, jue, and era in this context. The change in usage is particularly prevalent among second language users of Palenquero who acquired it as part of language revitalization activities.