Mauritian Creole and Language Attitudes in the Education System of Multiethnic and Multilingual Mauritius

Abstract

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.

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