Preface
This study is the result of a research project entitled ‘Syntactic change in Sranan’, which was initiated by my supervisor, Professor Pieter Seuren, and by the late Professor Jan Voorhoeve, the founder of Sranan studies in the Netherlands. The project was financed under number W 39-81 by the Dutch Organization for the Advancement of Tropical Research (WOTRO), which assistance is here gratefully acknowledged. I feel I have been lucky to be able to work on a research project that turned out to be so rewarding in so many ways.
There are several people and institutions who I would like to thank for helping me during the preparation of this thesis:
Lilian Adamson and George Bakboord for teaching me Sranan; Hein Eersel for sharing with me his vast knowledge of early Sranan and for checking my interpretation of all the sample sentences contained in Part 2; Bart Geurts for providing computer assistance in the analysis of some of the data; Geert Koefoed and Herman Wekker for their encouragement and commitment; Renata de Bies, Glenn Gilbert, John Holm, Robby Morroy, Pieter Muysken, Leon Stassen and Harry Wetzer for many helpful comments on some of the papers which formed the basis for this thesis; Mr. H. Leeuwenberg of the State Archives at Utrecht for giving me access to the wonderful Sranan collection of the EBGS (Moravian Brethren Suriname); my employer, the Dutch State School of Translation and Interpreting, for granting me a two-week leave to visit Suriname; my wife, Melanie, Percy Balemans and Kurt Haverkort for doing a fine word processing job; and, finally, Melanie, Jasper, Michiel, and Tommie, for reasons they already know.
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