social classification in Creole Louisiana

Synchronic and diachronic variation in the definition and composition of the Creole population presents theoretical problems. Neither a strictly empirical historical analysis of social groups nor a strictly paradigmatic analysis of social categories renders a satisfactory explanation of semantic and empirical variation. Suggested in this paper as a more adequate alternative is a syntagmatic analysis of social classification that is at once structural and diachronic. 1977 American Anthropological Association