Assignment Summary For this assignment, you will conduct a source analysis of an excerpt from Africa and Africans in the
Making of the Atlantic World, 1400–1800. Your source analysis will involve completing a graphic
organizer by identifying the author’s main thesis about language, finding three specific claims that support
the thesis, and recording the evidence provided for the claims.
Background Information
As Europeans explored the eastern coast of Africa and interacted with indigenous Africans, they shared
elements of their culture, especially their language. In response, Africans developed ways of
communicating with Europeans by adopting and adapting elements of these European languages. This
adaptation created syncretic languages, such as pidgin and creole, which blend elements of two or more
languages

Author

Cultural Changes in the Atlantic World: Language is by John K. Thornton.

Context

Cultural Changes in the Atlantic World: Language is a book that was published in 2012.

Purpose

The purpose of this excerpt was to inform readers about African language.  

Thesis

African language was replaced by creole and European languages.

Claim #1

Estates and towns with multiple nationality slaves encouraged the growth of a lingua franca.

Evidence Provided

“This clearly caused creole slaves, especially those of nationally mixed marriages, to opt for a lingua franca as their native speech.”

Claim #2

The creole was a popular spoken language on the West Africa coast.

Evidence Provided

“The French traveler Alexis de Saint-Lô found that Portuguese was spoken all over coastal Senegal when he visited in 1635, and some years earlier de Almada noted how widely it was spoken in the Gambia and Rivers of Guinea”

Claim #3

French missionaries wanted to spread the creole language

Evidence Provided

“The accommodation that these Jesuits made seems to be a creole form of the language, then deliberately propagated.”

Evaluation

The claims are strongly supported by the author's use of evidence. The claims support the thesis well.

Explanation: