A linguist analyzing Haitian Creole observes a shift towards more complex sentence structures. Which mechanism best explains this development, given the language's origin as a simplified contact language?

💡 Explanation

Grammaticalization explains the emergence of more complex grammatical features over time because simpler structures evolve into more elaborate ones. Therefore, the expansion of grammatical inventory through grammaticalization accounts for the increasing complexity, rather than substrate influence diminishing, which would suggest simplification.

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