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Contact Languages Around the World and Their Levels of Endangerment
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ScholarSpace at University of Hawai'i at Manoa Vol. 12 (2018), pp. 53–79 http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/ldc http://hdl.handle.net/10125/24764 Revised Version Received: 23 Jan 2017 Contact languages around the world and their levels of endangerment Nala H. Lee National University of Singapore This paper provides an up-to-date report on the vitality or endangerment status of contact languages around the world, including pidgins, creoles, and mixed lan- guages. By utilizing information featured in the Endangered Languages Project and the Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Languages online portals, 96 contact languages are assessed on the Language Endangerment Index, a method of assessment that is based on four factors including intergenerational transmission, absolute num- ber of speakers, speaker number trends, and domains of use. Results show that the contact languages are most at risk with respect to intergenerational transmis- sion and domains of use. This is explained by the social and historical nature of contact languages. Overall results further raise the concern that the proportion of pidgins, creoles and mixed languages at some level of risk is extremely high. Rea- sons are provided for why linguists should be concerned about the endangerment of these languages. 1. Introduction1 While the language endangerment problem has been generally well- highlighted in linguistics, the endangerment of contact languages has not received the same level of attention. Krauss (1992) postulates that at least half and possibly as much as 90% of the world’s languages will no longer be spoken by the end of the present century, while a more recent empirical study estimates a slightly less catas- trophic rate of loss, at one language every three months (Campbell et al. -
Mauritian Creole: an Introduction. INSTITUTION Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, D.C
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 048 598 AL 002 785 AUTHOR Goodman, Morris F.; And Others TITLE Mauritian Creole: An Introduction. INSTITUTION Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, D.C. SPONS AGENCY Peace Corps (Dept. of State) ,Washington, D.C. PUB DATE Apr 71 NOTE 355p. EDRS PRICE EDRS Price MF-$0.65 HC-$13.16 DESCRIPTORS Audiolingual Me'aods, *Conversational Language Courses, Cultural Context, Glossaries, Grammar, *Instructional Materials, *Language Instruction, *Mauritian Creole, Pattern Drills (Language), Pronunciation Instruction IDENTIFIERS Microwave Approach ABSTRACT The format of this 23-unit course in Mauritian Creole is based on "microwave', cycles, each cycle beginning with the introduction of new material and ending with the use of that material in communication. A small amount of new material is introduced at a time (usually in a monolog, drill, or dialog) which, after a brief bit of practice is used for communication (in a communication activity or a dialog). An introductory section presents a short description of the history cf this form of Creole, considered the national language by many Mauritians, notes on the spelling, and suggestions to the student and the teacher: for using the material. Appended are additional dialogs and a section on pronunciation to provide practice on some of the aspects of Mauritian Creole likely to prove troublesome for American learners. An English-Mauritian Creole glossary concludes the text. (AMM) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRO- DUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIG- INATING IT. POINTS OF VIEW OR OPIN- IONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDU- CATION FOSITION OR POLICY. -
'The Most Cosmopolitan Island Under the Sun'
‘The Most Cosmopolitan Island under the Sun’? Negotiating Ethnicity and Nationhood in Everyday Mauritius Reena Jane Dobson Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Cultural Research University of Western Sydney December 2009 The work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, original except as acknowledged in the text. I hereby declare that I have not submitted this material either in full or in part, for a degree at this or any other institution. Reena Dobson Dedication I dedicate this thesis to my grandmother, my Nani, whose life could not have been more different from my own. I will always be grateful that I was able to grow up knowing her. I also dedicate this thesis to my parents, whose interest, support and encouragement never wavered, and who were always there to share stories and memories and to help make the roots clearer. Acknowledgements At the tail end of a thesis journey which has involved entangled routes and roots, I would like to express my deepest and most heartfelt thanks to my wonderful partner, Simon White, who has been living the journey with me. His passionate approach to life has been a constant inspiration. He introduced me to good music, he reminded me to breathe, he tiptoed tactfully around as I sat in writing mode, he made me laugh when I wanted to cry, and he celebrated every writing victory – large and small – with me. I am deeply indebted to my brilliant supervisors, Associate Professor Greg Noble, Dr Zoë Sofoulis and Associate Professor Brett Neilson, who have always been ready with intellectual encouragement and inspiring advice. -
Notes on the History and the Syntax of Mauritian Creole1
Notes on the history and the syntax of Mauritian Creole1 PIETERA. M. SEUREN Abstract The central question behind the various topics discussed in this paper is the question of the LINGUISTIC status of Creole languages. They do have similar historical backgrounds, but do they also have linguistic features in common, and if so, how can they be explained? Certain features of the history and syntax of Mauritian Creole (MC) are used to bring more light to this problem area. The view is defended that MC was not, or not significantly, influenced by any West African languages. Verb serialization and predicate clefting, two clearly West African linguistic features found in the Caribbean Creoles, are notably absent in MC. No other convincingly West African features can be identified. The highly particular features common to MC and the French-based Caribbean Creoles are tentatively attributed to a French-based nautical pidgin and/or Creole in French trading posts in East and West Africa. Against this background a few MC-specific grammatical phenomena, in particular the rule of verb apocope, in connection with phenomena of verb complementation, the formation of WH-words, and the system of preverbal markers for tense, modality, and aspect, are described and analyzed. MC appears to have two raising rules, predicate raising and subject raising, which alternate in such a way that SVO word order is not disturbed. It is shown that all the phenomena in question manifest a tendency to maximize semantic transparency (in the sense that the amount of process- ing required to get from semantic structures to surface structures and vice versa is minimized). -
The Mauritian Creole and the Concept of Creolization
TU DIMUNN PU VINI KREOL: THE MAURITIAN CREOLE AND THE CONCEPT OF CREOLIZATION THOMAS HYLLAND ERIKSEN Lecture delivered at the Transnational Communities programme, Oxford University, December 1999. Available as a working paper here. The concept of cultural creolisation, introduced in anthropology by Ulf Hannerz (see Hannerz 1992), refers to the intermingling and mixing of two or several formerly discrete traditions or cultures. In an era of global mass communication and capitalism, creolisation can be identified nearly everywhere in the world, but there are important differences as to the degree of mixing. The concept has been criticized for essentialising cultures (as if the merging traditions were "pure" at the outset, cf. Friedman 1994). Although this critique may sometimes be relevant, the concept nevertheless helps making sense of a great number of contemporary cultural processes, characterised by movement, change and fuzzy boundaries. Creolisation, as it is used by some anthropologists, is an analogy taken from linguistics. This discipline in turn took the term from a particular aspect of colonialism, namely the uprooting and displacement of large numbers of people in the plantation economies of certain colonies, such as Louisiana, Jamaica, Trinidad, Réunion and Mauritius. Both in the Caribbean basin and in the Indian Ocean, certain (or all) groups who contributed to this economy during slavery were described as creoles. Originally, a criollo meant a European (normally a Spaniard) born in the New World (as opposed to peninsulares); today, a similar usage is current in La Réunion, where everybody born in the island, regardless of skin colour, is seen as créole, as opposed to the zoreils who were born in metropolitan France. -
Mauritian Creole and Language Attitudes in the Education System of Multiethnic and Multilingual Mauritius
Mauritian Creole and Language Attitudes in the Education System of Multiethnic and Multilingual Mauritius Aaliya Rajah-Carrim University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK Mauritius is a multilingual postcolonial island of the Indian Ocean. Although the French-lexified creole, Mauritian Creole/Kreol,1 is the native language of 70% of the Mauritian population, it is excluded from the education system. Kreol lacks prestige because it is seen as broken French and associated with the local Creoles, a socioeconomically deprived ethnic group. Over the last decade, there has been increasing pressure on the government from linguists and pedagogues to include this low-prestige variety in the school system. The government has recently proposed the introduction of Kreol in primary schools. In this study, I analyse the attitudes of 79 Mauritians towards the introduction of Kreol into the education system. I show that there is no consensus as to whether or not Kreol should be introduced in schools. Responses also highlight the two distinct roles of Kreol: it is both a national language and an ethnic language associated with Creole identity. doi: 10.2167/jmmd474.1 Keywords: Kreol, language attitudes, medium of instruction, ethnicity, multilingualism Introduction On creole-speaking multilingual Mauritius, languages act as important markers of identity (Eriksen, 1998; Stein, 1982). In fact, most of the 12 languages present on the island are associated with specific ethnic and/or religious groups. The various languages can broadly be divided into three groups: ancestral languages (Indian and Chinese languages) whose usage is limited, colonial languages (English and French) and language of everyday interactions (Mauritian Creole/Kreol Á see Note 1) (Rajah-Carrim, 2005). -
Ethnic Diversity, Development and Social Policy in Small States the Case of Mauritius
Ethnic Diversity, Development and Social Policy in Small States The Case of Mauritius Yeti Nisha Madhoo and Shyam Nath Research Paper 2013–2 May 2013 This United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) Research Paper has been produced with support from the Commonwealth Secretariat. UNRISD also thanks the governments of Denmark, Finland, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom for their core funding. Copyright © UNRISD. Short extracts from this publication may be reproduced unaltered without authorization on condition that the source is indicated. For rights of reproduction or translation, application should be made to UNRISD, Palais des Nations, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland. UNRISD welcomes such applications. The designations employed in UNRISD publications, which are in conformity with United Nations practice, and the presentation of material therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNRISD concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The responsibility for opinions expressed rests solely with the author(s), and publication does not constitute endorsement by UNRISD. ISSN 2305-5375 Contents Acronyms iii Acknowledgements iii Summary/Resumé/Resumen iv Summary iv Résumé v Resumen vii 1. Introduction to Colonial Background 1 Background to Mauritius 2 Focus of the present study 5 2. Salient Features of Colonial History and Politics 6 Pre-colonial status 6 Formal colonization episodes 7 Development of sugar economy 8 Peculiarities of Mauritian colonization 10 2. Post-Independence Politics and Governance 12 Impact of pre-independence political developments 14 Post-independence politics and elections 14 Ethnic groups and sociopolitical characteristics 17 3. -
Roots of Language
Roots of language Derek Bickerton language Classics in Linguistics 3 science press Classics in Linguistics Chief Editors: Martin Haspelmath, Stefan Müller In this series: 1. Lehmann, Christian. Thoughts on grammaticalization 2. Schütze, Carson T. The empirical base of linguistics: Grammaticality judgments and linguistic methodology 3. Bickerton, Derek. Roots of language ISSN: 2366-374X Roots of language Derek Bickerton language science press Derek Bickerton. 2016. Roots of language (Classics in Linguistics 3). Berlin: Language Science Press. This title can be downloaded at: http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/91 © 2016, Derek Bickerton Published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Licence (CC BY 4.0): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ISBN: 978-3-946234-08-1 (Digital) 978-3-946234-09-8 (Hardcover) 978-3-946234-10-4 (Softcover) 978-1-523647-15-6 (Softcover US) ISSN: 2366-374X DOI:10.17169/langsci.b91.109 Cover and concept of design: Ulrike Harbort Typesetting: Felix Kopecky, Sebastian Nordhoff Proofreading: Jonathan Brindle, Andreea Calude, Joseph P. DeVeaugh-Geiss, Joseph T. Farquharson, Stefan Hartmann, Marijana Janjic, Georgy Krasovitskiy, Pedro Tiago Martins, Stephanie Natolo, Conor Pyle, Alec Shaw Fonts: Linux Libertine, Arimo, DejaVu Sans Mono Typesetting software:Ǝ X LATEX Language Science Press Habelschwerdter Allee 45 14195 Berlin, Germany langsci-press.org Storage and cataloguing done by FU Berlin Language Science Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party -
The Complex of Creole Typological Features: the Case of Mauritian Creole
The Complex of Creole Typological Features: The Case of Mauritian Creole Author Grant, Anthony, Guillemin, Diana Published 2012 Journal Title Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages DOI https://doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.27.1.02gra Copyright Statement © 2012 John Benjamins Publishing Co. This is the author-manuscript version of this paper. Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal website for access to the definitive, published version. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/49352 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au The complex of creole typological features: The case of Mauritian Creole1 Anthony Grant, Edge Hill University Diana Guillemin, Griffith University Abstract This paper presents morphosyntactic and sentential information on Mauritian Creole (MC), a French-lexifier creole which has been underrepresented in many studies of Creole morphosyntactic typology. Typological features from Holm and Patrick (2007), Bickerton (1981, 1984), Taylor (1971, 1977), Markey (1982), and Dryer (1992), most of which have previously been assembled as being diagnostic of a language’s creole status, are presented here with examples from contemporary MC. MC sentences from sets of comparative creolistic sentences in Hancock (1975, 1987) are presented in Appendix A. The material demonstrates abundantly that MC exhibits the vast majority of features which have been deemed typical of creole languages over the past four decades. Keywords: Ile de France Creole, Indian Ocean Creole, Mauritian Creole, Seselwa, typology. 1. Introduction In the past few decades, the interest in typological features of Creoles, both as a way towards establishing which structural features are held to be intrinsic to Creoles and as a means of comparing the presence of certain features among Creoles with varying major lexifiers, has increased considerably. -
Antrocom Journal of Anthropology
Antrocom Online Journal of Anthropology vol. 11. n. 1 (2015) 49-62 – ISSN 1973 – 2880 Antrocom Journal of Anthropology journal homepage: http://www.antrocom.net Mauritius: Culture Crossings and its Consequences Sylvie Maurer KEYWORDS ABSTRACT legacy Mauritius has been crossed by a wide variety of cultures from the inception of its population through culture the present. As a result of the waves of different peoples, and therefore, cultures, crossing the island, Mauritian Creoles Mauritius now houses a multicultural “rainbow” population. However, the cultures in place are not given kreol equal social statuses. The status of each culture depends on the way in which each group’s ancestors arrived culture crossings on the island. Some groups came to Mauritius on their own accord, while others were brought to the island inclusion by force as slaves. Currently, peoples sharing different ancestral cultures cohabit Mauritius. Nevertheless, exclusion the slaves’ descendants, mostly the Creoles, inherited the culture of their “masters” and at the same time embodied the Mauritian culture. Indeed, having been ripped from their African or Malagasy culture, they have adopted parts of the other groups’ cultures and have created a culture of their own. This paper proposes to study briefly the place of each culture in Mauritius and to explore the consequences of culture crossings. Introduction A Member of the Commonwealth since its independence in 1968, Mauritius is currently known as the “Rainbow Island.” From the point of view adopted, it either underwent or benefited from several settlements, which have led to the building of a multicultural society. The cultures present on this island is an example of what Claude Lévi -Strauss wrote in “Race and History” (1952): “ no culture is unique: it is always given in coalition with other cultures, and this is what allows it to build cumulative series.” Each settlement left an imprint on Mauritius, both cultural and human. -
Vernacular Languages in an English-Dominant Education System: Mauritian Creole, Bhojpuri and the Politics of Ethnicity in Multilingual Mauritius
5 Vernacular languages in an English-dominant education system: Mauritian Creole, Bhojpuri and the politics of ethnicity in multilingual Mauritius Tejshree Auckle Introduction UNESCO’s 2009 world report on cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue makes a strong case for the implementation of mother-tongue-based multilingual education (MTB MLE) programmes which allow for the co-existence of both local vernacular languages and other socially prestigious tongues such as English (UNESCO 2009). The success of these MTB MLE programmes hinges, as it suggests, quite significantly, upon deliberate governmental intervention at the levels of language policy and planning. For instance, though the report bemoans the efforts of most multilingual nations which have set up their own MTB MLE programmes as being, at best, half- hearted, it also celebrates the tentative steps taken by countries such as Cambodia and Zambia which have formally introduced a few minority languages as media of instruction at lower primary level (UNESCO 2009). Such forms of overt language planning are believed to be instrumental to the maintenance or even, possibly, the revitalisation of minority and/or endangered languages (Schiffman 1995). However, as Shohamy (2006) highlights, many communities rely on covert language policies which make no explicit reference to language in any legal or administrative document. Instead, they draw quasi- exclusively from inferences derived from other forms of constitutional provisos. This dichotomy between covert and overt language policy and planning will be at the heart of this chapter as it seeks to explore the challenges faced by post-colonial Mauritius in implementing its own MTB MLE programme through the introduction of the vernacular languages of Mauritian Creole (MC) and Mauritian Bhojpuri (MB) as optional subjects at primary level. -
Welcome to Mauritius
COMPLIMENTARY WITH MAY 2015 ISSUE Welcome to Mauritius PARADISE FOUND IN IN ASSOCIATION THE INDIAN WITH OCEAN Tourism Office www.tourism-mauritius.mu GRAND BAY | BELLE MARE | FLIC EN FLAC | BLUE BAY Rush The Team Members of LUX* help people to celebrate life with the most simple, fresh and sensory hospitality in the world. MAURITIUS REUNION MALDIVES CHINA U.A.E (2016) | LUXRESORTS.COM LUX AD Condenast indd 1 9/30/14 10:37 AM Clockwise from top: Le Touessrok’s golf course on Île aux Cerfs; tranquil lagoons lap Mauritius’ beaches; Le Morne towers over a golf course; a water lily pond at Pamplemousses Botanical Garden hoosing the ideal holiday destination that hits all the right spots can be fraught with difficulty. Is it outstanding enough to celebrate a honeymoon or Cspecial occasion? Does it have something for everyone in the family? Is it possible to get a taste of the local culture? As is often the case with beach and island breaks, these boxes become even trickier to tick with tourist developments dominating seafronts and small islands lacking the space to host an experience eclectic enough to satisfy a variety of travellers. But look to the south-west Indian Ocean and find Mauritius, an island brimming with natural beauty and layers of diversity and culture. Lined with 330km of coastline featuring everything from secluded beaches untouched by developments, indulgent escapes for luxury and intimacy, and calm turquoise waters protected by reefs pulsing with marine life, the shoreline is just the beginning of what Mauritius has to offer. Inland, mountains slope to tropical forests inhabited by rare birds and lush sugar cane plantations that recall the island’s Dutch, French and British history.