The origins of the Afro-Hispanic Languages of the Americas (AHLAs), the languages that developed in Latin America from the contact of African languages and Spanish in colonial times, are extremely intriguing, since it still has to be explained why we do not find creole languages in certain regions of Spanish America, where the socio-demographic conditions for creole languages to emerge appear to have been in place in colonial times. Nowadays, in contrast, we can find such contact varieties in similar former colonies, which were ruled by the British, the French or the Dutch ( McWhorter 2000 ). Despite the fascinating implications of this phenomenon, our knowledge of the AHLAs remains extremely limited. Several hypotheses have been proposed to account for this situation, but no common consensus has yet been achieved ( Chaudenson 2001 ; Mintz 1971 ; Laurence 1974 ; Granda 1968 ; Schwegler 1993 , 2014 ; Lipski 1993 ; etc.). The pull of different views on the issue has been labelled in the literature as the ‘Spanish creole debate’ ( Lipski 2005 : ch.9). The current study is aimed at casting new light on the Spanish creole debate by relying on a comparative analysis of slave laws in the Americas. This article highlights the role that legal differences played in shaping colonial societies and the Afro-European languages that developed in the New World.

中文翻译：

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克里奥尔人起源的法律假设

美洲非洲裔西班牙人（AHLAs）的起源极具吸引力，因为它仍需解释为什么我们找不到，美洲裔非洲裔人是在殖民时期通过非洲语言和西班牙语的接触而发展起来的。西班牙美洲某些地区的克里奥尔语在当地出现了人口克里奥尔语出现的社会人口条件。相比之下，如今，我们可以在由英国，法国或荷兰人统治的类似前殖民地中找到这种接触变种（McWhorter 2000）。尽管这种现象引人入胜，但我们对AHLA的了解仍然极为有限。有人提出了几种假设来解释这种情况，但尚未达成共识（Chaudenson 2001； Mintz 1971； Mr。1989）。劳伦斯1974年; 1968年格兰达; 施韦格勒1993年，2014年; 利普斯基1993; 等等。）。关于这个问题的不同观点在文献中被称为“西班牙克里奥尔人的辩论”（Lipski 2005：ch.9）。当前的研究旨在通过对美洲奴隶法的比较分析，为西班牙克里奥尔人的辩论提供新的思路。本文着重介绍法律差异在塑造殖民社会和新世界中发展起来的非裔欧洲语言中所扮演的角色。