 The term decriolization describes a process in which a creole language gradually loses its basalectal or creole features and becomes more similar to the acrylic or the standard language from which it is derived. The speakers alter the language in the direction of the acrylic, which is generally associated with prestige and a higher social status. The target of decriolization, however, remains unclear among scholars, but it is thought to be due to social pressure and negative attitudes towards speakers of the creole language. Decriolization thus creates a continuum ranging from the basalect to the acrylic. In between there is a spectrum of intermediate varieties, the miselects. An example is the creole continuum in Jamaica. It ranges from the basalect, Jamaican creole, which emerged from a pigeon and was initially used by slaves, to Jamaican English as a miselect decriolized from the basalect to the acrylic English. Moreover, there is a theory that African American English is a decriolized creole as well, originating from a basalectal slave creole to become an English miselect. It was suggested that when African Americans achieved equality under the law, the increased contact with the standard variety of American English and the increased opportunity for social mobility resulted in the loss of some basalectal features of the slave creole. In some creoles, the number of lexical borrowings from the standard is said to show the degree of decriolization, as in the French-based Thaisian Creole. More often, however, phonological and especially morphosyntactic features are affected by decriolization.