Mauritian Creole
Encyclopedia
Mauritian Creole is a French-based creole language spoken in Mauritius
. In addition to the French base of the language, there are also some words from English
and from the many African and Asian languages that have been spoken on the island.
of Mauritius. Mauritius, a previous British Colony, has kept English as its official language, although French is more widely spoken. Mauritians tend to speak Creole at home and French in the workplace. Creole is a French based language. French and English are spoken in schools. However, although a large percentage of Mauritians are of Indian descent they speak mostly creole as it is their mother tongue in the sense that their ancestors along with those of African, European and Chinese descent helped build the creole languages together centuries ago, when Mauritius was the merging place of peoples from different continents who together founded a nation with its own culture and history.
, Rodriguan Creole
and Chagossian Creole
. The language's relationship to other French-based creole languages besides these is controversial. Robert Chaudenson has argued that Mauritian Creole is closely related to Réunion Creole
, while R. A. Papen, Philip Baker, and Chris Corne have all argued that Réunion influence on Mauritian was minimal and that the two languages are barely more similar to one another than they are to other French-based creoles.
were the first Europeans to visit Mauritius, they did not settle there. The small Portuguese element in the vocabulary of Mauritian creole derives rather from the Portuguese element in European maritime jargons (such as Sabir and Lingua Franca) or from enslaved Africans or Asians who came from areas where Portuguese was used as a trade language. Similarly, while the Dutch
had a colony on Mauritius between 1638 and 1710, all the Dutch settlers evacuated the island to Réunion, leaving behind only a few runaway slaves who would have no discernible impact on Mauritian Creole. The French then claimed Mauritius and first settled it between 1715 and 1721.
As they had done on Réunion
and in the West Indies, the French created on Mauritius a plantation economy based on slave labor. Slaves became a majority of the population of Mauritius by 1730, and were 85% of the population by 1777. These forced migrants came from West Africa
, East Africa
, Madagascar
, and India
. Given the resulting linguistic fragmentation, French became the lingua franca among the slaves. However, the small size of the native French population on the island, their aloofness from most of their slaves, and the utter lack of formal education for slaves ensured that the slaves' French would develop in very different directions from the slaveowners' French. Historical documents from as early as 1773 already speak of the "creole language" that the slaves spoke.
The British
took over Mauritius during the Napoleonic era
, but few English-speakers ever settled there and by then Mauritian Creole was firmly entrenched. The abolition of slavery in the 1830s enabled many Mauritian Creoles to leave the plantations, and the plantation owners started bringing in Indian indentured workers to replace them. Though the Indians soon became, and remain, a majority on the island, their own linguistic fragmentation and alienation from the English- and French-speaking white elite led them to take up Mauritian Creole as their main lingua franca. English and French have long enjoyed greater social status and dominated government
, business
, education
, and the media
, but Mauritian Creole's popularity in most informal domains has persisted.
of Mauritian Creole is very similar to that of French. However, the French "ch" and "j"/soft "g" are pronounced like "s" and "z" respectively in Mauritian, and the French rounded front vowels "u" and "eu" are realized as "i" and "e" respectively.
Though the language has as yet no official standard orthography, it does have several published dictionaries, both monolingual and bilingual, written by authors such as Philip Baker, the group "Ledikasyon pu travayer," and Arnaud Carpooran, among others. The number of publications in creole is increasing steadily, and an unofficial standard orthography is emerging. This system generally follows French, but eliminates silent letters and reduces the number of different ways in which the same sound can be written.
In 2005, Professor Vinesh Hookoomsing of the University of Mauritius published the report "Grafi Larmoni" which seeks to harmonize the different ways of writing Mauritian Creole in Mauritius.
"le/la" is often fused with the noun
it modifies. Thus French "rat" is Mauritian "lera," French "temps" is Mauritian "letan." The same is true for some adjectives and prepositions, for example, "femme" and "riz" in French and "bolfam" (from "bonne femme") and "duri" (from "du riz") in Mauritian. Some words have changed their meanings altogether, like "gayn" (meaning "to have" in Mauritian), which is derived from "gagner" ("to win" in French).
There are also several loan words from the languages of the African slaves: Madagascans
contributed such words as Mauritian "lapang," Malagasy
"ampango" (rice stuck to the bottom of a pot); Mauritian "lafus," Malagasy "hafotsa" (a kind of tree); Mauritian "zahtak," Malagasy "antaka" (a kind of plant). Note that in these cases, as with some of the nouns from French, that the modern Mauritian word has fused with the French article "le/la/les." Words of East African origin include Mauritian "makutu," Makua
"makhwatta" (running sore); Mauritian "matak," Swahili
and Makonde
"matako" (buttock).
Recents words are english, as map (plan or carte in french).
or plural
can usually only be determined by context. If an unambiguous marker is needed, the particle "ban" (from "bande") is often placed before the noun. French "un/une" corresponds to Mauritian "ene," though the rules for its use are slightly different. Mauritian has an article, "la," but this is placed after the noun it modifies: compare Fr. "un rat," "ce rat" or "le rat," "les rats," Mauritian "en lera," "lera-la," "ban-lera."
In Mauritian Creole there is only one form for each pronoun
, regardless of whether it is the subject
, object
, or possessive
, regardless of gender
. Mauritian Creole "li" can thus be translated as he, she, it, him, his, her, or hers, depending upon how it is used in any particular instance.
Like nouns, Mauritian creole verbs do not change their form according to tense
or person
. Instead, the accompanying noun or pronoun is used to determine who is engaging in the action, and several preverbal particles are used alone or in combination to indicate the tense. Thus "ti" (from Fr. "étais") marks past tense
, "pe" (from "après" as Québec french) marks progressive, "(f)in" (from Fr. "fin") marks completive or perfect, and "a" (from Fr. "va") marks future. Example: "li fin gayh" (he/she/it had), which can also be shortened to "li n gayh" and pronounced as if it were one word. Réunion version is li té fine gagne for past, li té i gagne for past progressif but li sava gagne marks present progressif or a close future.
Lord's Prayer
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
. In addition to the French base of the language, there are also some words from English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and from the many African and Asian languages that have been spoken on the island.
Sociolinguistic Situation
Mauritian Creole is the lingua francaLingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
of Mauritius. Mauritius, a previous British Colony, has kept English as its official language, although French is more widely spoken. Mauritians tend to speak Creole at home and French in the workplace. Creole is a French based language. French and English are spoken in schools. However, although a large percentage of Mauritians are of Indian descent they speak mostly creole as it is their mother tongue in the sense that their ancestors along with those of African, European and Chinese descent helped build the creole languages together centuries ago, when Mauritius was the merging place of peoples from different continents who together founded a nation with its own culture and history.
Classification
Mauritian Creole is a French-based creole language, closely related to Seychellois CreoleSeychellois Creole
Seychellois Creole, also known as Kreol or Seselwa, is the French-based creole language of the Seychelles. It shares official language status with English and French ....
, Rodriguan Creole
Rodriguan Creole
Rodriguan Creole is a dialect of Mauritian Creole spoken on the island of Rodrigues in the Indian Ocean. The total number of speakers is estimated at 40,000. On the island of Rodrigues, like in the rest of the republic of Mauritius, English is the official language and French is also spoken....
and Chagossian Creole
Chagossian Creole
Chagossian Creole is a French-based Creole spoken by the 3,000 or so Chagossians, the former inhabitants of the Chagos Archipelago. It is currently spoken mainly in Mauritius and the Seychelles. There is also a small minority community speaking the language in the United Kingdom....
. The language's relationship to other French-based creole languages besides these is controversial. Robert Chaudenson has argued that Mauritian Creole is closely related to Réunion Creole
Réunion Creole
Réunion Creole or Reunionese Creole , or Créole Réunionnais in French is a creole language spoken on Réunion...
, while R. A. Papen, Philip Baker, and Chris Corne have all argued that Réunion influence on Mauritian was minimal and that the two languages are barely more similar to one another than they are to other French-based creoles.
History
Although the PortuguesePortuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
were the first Europeans to visit Mauritius, they did not settle there. The small Portuguese element in the vocabulary of Mauritian creole derives rather from the Portuguese element in European maritime jargons (such as Sabir and Lingua Franca) or from enslaved Africans or Asians who came from areas where Portuguese was used as a trade language. Similarly, while the Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
had a colony on Mauritius between 1638 and 1710, all the Dutch settlers evacuated the island to Réunion, leaving behind only a few runaway slaves who would have no discernible impact on Mauritian Creole. The French then claimed Mauritius and first settled it between 1715 and 1721.
As they had done on Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
and in the West Indies, the French created on Mauritius a plantation economy based on slave labor. Slaves became a majority of the population of Mauritius by 1730, and were 85% of the population by 1777. These forced migrants came from West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
, East Africa
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
, Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
, and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Given the resulting linguistic fragmentation, French became the lingua franca among the slaves. However, the small size of the native French population on the island, their aloofness from most of their slaves, and the utter lack of formal education for slaves ensured that the slaves' French would develop in very different directions from the slaveowners' French. Historical documents from as early as 1773 already speak of the "creole language" that the slaves spoke.
The British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
took over Mauritius during the Napoleonic era
Napoleonic Era
The Napoleonic Era is a period in the history of France and Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislative Assembly, and the third being the Directory...
, but few English-speakers ever settled there and by then Mauritian Creole was firmly entrenched. The abolition of slavery in the 1830s enabled many Mauritian Creoles to leave the plantations, and the plantation owners started bringing in Indian indentured workers to replace them. Though the Indians soon became, and remain, a majority on the island, their own linguistic fragmentation and alienation from the English- and French-speaking white elite led them to take up Mauritian Creole as their main lingua franca. English and French have long enjoyed greater social status and dominated government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
, business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
, education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
, and the media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
, but Mauritian Creole's popularity in most informal domains has persisted.
Phonology and Orthography
The phonologyPhonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
of Mauritian Creole is very similar to that of French. However, the French "ch" and "j"/soft "g" are pronounced like "s" and "z" respectively in Mauritian, and the French rounded front vowels "u" and "eu" are realized as "i" and "e" respectively.
Though the language has as yet no official standard orthography, it does have several published dictionaries, both monolingual and bilingual, written by authors such as Philip Baker, the group "Ledikasyon pu travayer," and Arnaud Carpooran, among others. The number of publications in creole is increasing steadily, and an unofficial standard orthography is emerging. This system generally follows French, but eliminates silent letters and reduces the number of different ways in which the same sound can be written.
In 2005, Professor Vinesh Hookoomsing of the University of Mauritius published the report "Grafi Larmoni" which seeks to harmonize the different ways of writing Mauritian Creole in Mauritius.
Lexicon
While most of the words in Mauritian Creole share a common origin with French, they are not always used in the same way. For example, the French definite articleDefinite Article
Definite Article is the title of British comedian Eddie Izzard's 1996 performance released on VHS. It was recorded on different nights at the Shaftesbury Theatre...
"le/la" is often fused with the noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
it modifies. Thus French "rat" is Mauritian "lera," French "temps" is Mauritian "letan." The same is true for some adjectives and prepositions, for example, "femme" and "riz" in French and "bolfam" (from "bonne femme") and "duri" (from "du riz") in Mauritian. Some words have changed their meanings altogether, like "gayn" (meaning "to have" in Mauritian), which is derived from "gagner" ("to win" in French).
There are also several loan words from the languages of the African slaves: Madagascans
Malagasy people
The Malagasy ethnic group forms nearly the entire population of Madagascar. They are divided into two subgroups: the "Highlander" Merina, Sihanaka and Betsileo of the central plateau around Antananarivo, Alaotra and Fianarantsoa, and the côtiers elsewhere in the country. This division has its...
contributed such words as Mauritian "lapang," Malagasy
Malagasy language
Malagasy is the national language of Madagascar, a member of the Austronesian family of languages. Most people in Madagascar speak it as a first language as do some people of Malagasy descent elsewhere.-History:...
"ampango" (rice stuck to the bottom of a pot); Mauritian "lafus," Malagasy "hafotsa" (a kind of tree); Mauritian "zahtak," Malagasy "antaka" (a kind of plant). Note that in these cases, as with some of the nouns from French, that the modern Mauritian word has fused with the French article "le/la/les." Words of East African origin include Mauritian "makutu," Makua
Makua language
The Makhuwa language is a Bantu language spoken by 3 million Makua people, who live north of the Zambezi River in Mozambique, particularly in the province of Nampula...
"makhwatta" (running sore); Mauritian "matak," Swahili
Swahili language
Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...
and Makonde
Makonde language
Makonde is the language spoken by the Makonde, an ethnic group in southeast Tanzania and northern Mozambique. Makonde is a central Bantu language closely related to Yao...
"matako" (buttock).
Recents words are english, as map (plan or carte in french).
Grammar
Mauritian Creole nouns do not change their form when they are pluralized. Thus, whether a noun is singularGrammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
or plural
Plural
In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one...
can usually only be determined by context. If an unambiguous marker is needed, the particle "ban" (from "bande") is often placed before the noun. French "un/une" corresponds to Mauritian "ene," though the rules for its use are slightly different. Mauritian has an article, "la," but this is placed after the noun it modifies: compare Fr. "un rat," "ce rat" or "le rat," "les rats," Mauritian "en lera," "lera-la," "ban-lera."
In Mauritian Creole there is only one form for each pronoun
Pronoun
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun , such as, in English, the words it and he...
, regardless of whether it is the subject
Nominative case
The nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments...
, object
Accusative case
The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions...
, or possessive
Genitive case
In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...
, regardless of gender
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
. Mauritian Creole "li" can thus be translated as he, she, it, him, his, her, or hers, depending upon how it is used in any particular instance.
Like nouns, Mauritian creole verbs do not change their form according to tense
Grammatical tense
A tense is a grammatical category that locates a situation in time, to indicate when the situation takes place.Bernard Comrie, Aspect, 1976:6:...
or person
Grammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
. Instead, the accompanying noun or pronoun is used to determine who is engaging in the action, and several preverbal particles are used alone or in combination to indicate the tense. Thus "ti" (from Fr. "étais") marks past tense
Past tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future...
, "pe" (from "après" as Québec french) marks progressive, "(f)in" (from Fr. "fin") marks completive or perfect, and "a" (from Fr. "va") marks future. Example: "li fin gayh" (he/she/it had), which can also be shortened to "li n gayh" and pronounced as if it were one word. Réunion version is li té fine gagne for past, li té i gagne for past progressif but li sava gagne marks present progressif or a close future.
Lord's Prayer
Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer is a central prayer in Christianity. In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, it appears in two forms: in the Gospel of Matthew as part of the discourse on ostentation in the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Gospel of Luke, which records Jesus being approached by "one of his...
| Mauritian Creole graphie | French | Gallicized graphie | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nou Papa ki dan lesiel Fer rekonet ki to nom sin, Fer ki to reigne vini, Fer to volonte acompli, Lor later kuma dan lesiel. Donn nou azordi dipin ki nou bizin. Pardone-nou nou ban ofans, Kuma nou osi pardone lezot ki fine ofans nou. Pa less nou tom dan tentation Me tir-nu depi lemal. |
Notre Père qui es aux cieux, Que ton Nom soit sanctifié, Que ton règne vienne, Que ta volonté soit faite Sur la terre comme au ciel. Donne-nous aujourd'hui notre pain de ce jour. Pardonne-nous nos offenses, Comme nous pardonnons aussi à ceux qui nous ont offensés. Et ne nous soumet pas à la tentation, Mais délivre-nous du mal. |
Nous Papa qui dans le-ciel, Faire reconnait' qui to nom saint, Faire qui to regne vini', Faire ton volonté accompli' Lors la-terre kuma dans le-ciel. Donne-nous azordi du-pain qui nous bizin. Pardonne-nous nous bann offense, Comment nous aussi pardonne lez-aut' qui fin offense nous. Pas laisse nous tom dans tentation, Mais tir-nous depi le-mal. |
Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. |