CREOLE LANGUAGES, or creoles, languages formed as a result of the development of pidgins. In a certain situation, pidgin can become the only language of a community whose members are quite closely related to each other, and begin to serve all (and not just some, say, communication in trade) communicative needs of this society - in particular, it can be used as a language of intra-family communication. At the same time, for the new generation such pidgin becomes their native, and often the only language. This process is called nativization, or pidgin creolization, and the new stage in the development of the contact language is called creole. The term "creole" comes from a Portuguese expression originating in Brazil. crioulo, originally referring to an African slave born in America.

Being an auxiliary language, pidgin has a small vocabulary and simplified grammar; Depending on the native languages of the speakers, it breaks up into various ethnolects (ethnic dialects), the specifics of which are manifested in vocabulary, grammar and phonetics. In the process of creolization, these differences are leveled out, the vocabulary increases, the phonetic and grammatical structures become more complex, although, as a rule, they also remain relatively simple - which, however, seems natural to associate with the short time of existence of those languages known to science, the Creole origin of which is beyond doubt . Since creolization is a process that is multilaterally conditioned and reversible, the interpretation of some of its intermediate stages (still pidgin or already creole) can cause difficulties.

Currently, there are over six dozen creole languages in the world, which is several times greater than the number of existing pidgins (the name of a creole language may contain the word “pidgin” in one form or another, reflecting the previous state of affairs). The total number of speakers of creole languages is estimated at approximately 30 million. Most creole languages arose as a result of the development of pidgins based on Western European languages, but there are also a number of pidgins based on non-European languages, for example, the significant number of speakers of the Kituba creole languages in Zaire (5 million speakers ) and Munukutuba in the People's Republic of the Congo (approx. 1.5 million speakers; both based on the Congo language), Jubay Arabic in Sudan and several others. Creolization processes have played and continue to play a significant role in the history of the development of the largest African language, Swahili.

The process of pidgin creolization occurred in different social conditions: in mixed families that arose in European coastal fortifications, on plantations, as well as among fugitive slaves, who largely reproduced traditional African cultures in the New World. The sources of vocabulary and structural enrichment in these cases turned out to be different: in some cases, the lexifier language (the one from which most of the vocabulary of the pidgin came) continued to influence the emerging Creole language, in others this influence was completely absent. Much in the fate of the Creole language also depended on the dynamics of the demographic situation in the early stages of its development: if such a language already had a developed vocabulary and stable grammar, but the number of those to whom it became native was small, the people who acquired it again introduced new vocabulary and undermined the established phonetics and grammar standards. As a result of this, the process of decreolization could begin, turning back into a pidgin. As new languages came into contact, vocabulary and grammatical innovations could be very significant; The degree of influence of the official languages of the respective territories on Creole was also important.

The most famous groups of creole languages related in origin are located on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Here, starting from the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries, pidgins arose on a Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, French, and English basis. More than three dozen modern creole languages of the West Indies, South America, and the west coast of Africa go back to them.

Despite the fact that the history of these languages goes back 3–4 centuries, the level of mutual understanding between creoles and the corresponding lexifier languages is low. A clear idea of this is given by the translation into a number of English-Creole languages of the Atlantic of the English phrase The dog of the man who lives in that house is named King"The dog of the man who lives in this house is named King."

Saramakkan	di dagu fu di womi dati di libi n a wosu de a king
Guyanese	a man wa liv a da hous dag neem king
Jamaican	di maan wa lib iina da hous daag nyem king
Barbadian	di dog da’ bilong tu di man da’ liv in da’ house, i neem king
Cryo	di man we tap na da os dog nem king

Of these languages, the history of Krio and Saramaccan was the most complex. Krio is common in Sierra Leone, where it is native to half a million people. The creolization of English pidgin in the area of modern Freetown probably began soon after the establishment of an English fort here in 1663; by the end of the 18th century. the number of African-European mulattoes exceeded 10 thousand. At this time, about 2 thousand former slaves were resettled here in three parties, who received freedom for participating on the side of the British in the war of the North American colonies for independence, to which another 550 immigrants from Jamaica were added in 1800. The Anglo-Creole languages used by these returnees must have been markedly different from the local ones. After the abolition of the slave trade in Great Britain in 1807, all blacks liberated by the English fleet and illegally transported across the Atlantic were delivered here; Most of these Africans (more than 7 thousand people) spoke the Yoruba language, which had a noticeable influence on Krio. With the spread by the end of the 18th century. Krio deep into the mainland (naturally, in the form of a pidgin), it was influenced by local languages.

The history of Saramaccan is even more complex. From the middle of the 17th century. On the British plantations in the future Suriname, a pidgin on an English basis was formed, but soon settlers from Brazil arrived there along with slaves who spoke a creolized Portuguese pidgin. In the process of contacts, an Anglo-Portuguese pidgin emerges, which, however, does not have time to acquire a uniform, stable structure, since there is a constant influx of new slaves from Africa. From 1690, already under the Dutch administration, mass escapes of slaves from the coast into the jungle began. Among them, it was formed at the beginning of the 18th century. a new creole language, Saramaccan (now spoken by about 20 thousand so-called “forest blacks”). The main vocabulary of this language is dominated by English vocabulary, but there are many words of Portuguese origin, and there are also words that go back to numerous native African slave languages, as well as to Dutch. Here is what the first ten units of the so-called hundred-word Swadesh list look like in Saramaccan compared to English (the corresponding English words are given in brackets; Saramaccan words going back to English are in bold, Portuguese - in italics, Dutch - underlined): hii (all ) "all", sinja(ashes) "ash", kakisa (bark) "bark", bee(belly) "belly", bigi/gaan(big) "large", fou (bird) "bird", njan (bite) "bite", baaka(black) "black", buuu(blood; the corresponding Samarakkan word goes back not to English, but to Dutch bloed) “blood”, bonu(bone) "bone".

In other areas, the process of creolization followed different paths. The reservation system that developed in North America and Australia led to the unification of multilingual peoples. On one of the Oregon reservations, the leading means of communication between representatives of 15 tribes became a pidgin known as “Chinook jargon” (based on the Chinook and Nootka Indian languages). Almost all newly formed families were mixed. Shavash-vava (“Indian talk”), as the creolized pidgin came to be called, became native to most children, although with age everyone learned standard English. The creolization of English pidgin in the Northern Territory of Australia followed a similar path. Aboriginal people of different tribes settled in settlements at Anglican missions; local pidgin became the main means of communication and then became creolized. Now this new language, called Kriol, is the main means of communication for about 10 thousand people and functions in more than a hundred settlements. It began to be used in school teaching and in radio broadcasting.

The fate of a group of related English pidgins who functioned among Melanesian plantation workers in north-eastern Australia and Melanesia was quite different. These pidgins were quite developed, but mixed marriages were rather an exception. Nevertheless, upon returning to their homeland, the Melanesians of New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides widely used pidgins in interethnic communication. Later they were used by the colonial administration and missionaries. In urban centers, pidgins gradually became the main languages of communication, but the process of their creolization was rather slow. Currently, the most developed of these languages (Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea and Bislama in Vanuatu) have received official status, are used in the media, at school, and fiction is created in them, but the proportion of those for whom they have become native and the only known languages are still small.

The evolution of an established creole can be greatly influenced by constant contact with the corresponding lexifier language, especially in cases where the creole language is not prestigious and does not have official status. In this case, the standard of the Creole language is eroded and, along with the “orthodox” Creole, forms of speech arise that are intermediate between it and the lexifier language. This is, for example, the translation of a simple English phrase I gave him"I gave him" in different variants of Guyanese Creole: A giv im; A giv ii; A did giv hii; Mi di gi hii; Mi bin gi ii.

The typological specificity of creole languages is explained by their relatively recent origin from pidgins: they are all distinguished by relatively simple phonological systems and a fairly high degree of analyticity. Creoles often retain traces of the lexical poverty characteristic of their pidgin predecessors, for example, antonymous adjectives are often formed using negation (“bad” is conveyed as “not-good,” “dumb” as “not-sharp,” etc. ), cf. "bad": Tok Pisin nogut, fucked up no bun, "dumb": Tok Pisin nosap, Haitian pa file.

The study of creole languages, as well as pidgins, began at the end of the 19th century, but for a long time was on the periphery of linguistic science. The situation began to change in the 1950s after the publication of W. Weinreich’s book Language contacts(Russian translation 1979) and especially since the 1970s, when representatives of a number of areas of linguistics came to the realization that the processes of pidginization and especially creolization of languages can serve as an important source of information about the origin of language and, above all, about the formation of grammatical categories. A significant role in the emergence of such interest was played, in particular, by the research of D. Bickerton and the interpretation of their results in the theoretical works of the American functionalist ( cm. FUNCTIONALISM IN LINGUISTICS) T. Givona. The development of creolistics also revived a long-standing one (back in the 19th century, G. Schuchhardt was actively involved in it), but for some time was considered practically “closed” in comparative historical linguistics (not least due to its inadequate and largely speculative formulation within the framework of “new teaching about language” N.Ya. Marr) the problem of the relationship between divergent (divergence of languages) and convergent (their convergence) processes in the history of the formation of languages and dialects of the world.

Pidgins are languages that arise in extreme, unnatural situations during interethnic communication. That is, this happens when two peoples urgently need to understand each other. Pidgins and creole languages appeared during contacts between European colonizers and local peoples. In addition, they arose as a means of communication for trade. It happened that children used pidgin and used it as their native language (for example, the children of slaves did this). In such circumstances, the Creole language developed from this dialect, which is considered to be its next stage of development.

How is a pidgin formed?

In order for such an adverb to be formed, several languages must be in contact at once (usually three or more). The grammar and vocabulary of pidgin are quite limited and extremely simplified. For example, it contains less than one and a half thousand words. This is not a native dialect for one, or another, or a third nation, and due to its simplified structure, such a language is used only during certain circumstances. When a pidgin is native to a large number of people of mixed heritage, it can be considered a distinct language. This took place during the era of colonization of American, Asian and African lands from the 15th century until the 20th century. Interesting fact: its evolution into the status of a creole language occurs when mixed marriages appear.

Creole language in Haiti

Today, the number of Creole languages on the planet reaches more than 60. One of them is Haitian, which is typical for the population. It is also used by local residents of other American territories. In most cases, the language is widespread among immigrants from the island, for example in Quebec, etc. The basis for it is French. The Haitian Creole language is a modified version of the French vocabulary of the 18th century. It is also influenced by Western and Central African languages, as well as Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese and some English. has a largely simplified grammar. Since the second half of the 20th century, it has been an official language on the island, as well as French.

Seychelles Creole language

Also an interesting case of the emergence and development of the Creole dialect is the Seychelles language. On these islands it is official, as are English and French. Seychelles Creole is spoken by most of the state's residents. Thus, it is quite common among the population. Interesting fact: immediately after becoming independent and freed from colonial influence, the government set a goal to codify the local dialect of Patois (a modified version of French). For this purpose, an entire institute was founded in the country, whose employees study and develop Seychelles grammar.

Situation in Mauritius

At the end of October (28th), the island celebrates local Creole language day. Although a large number of the population in Mauritius uses it in everyday life (the local dialect is based on French), for official negotiations and office work they predominantly choose English or French. This situation does not suit local residents. The Mauritian Creole language needs support and development, for which specific measures should be taken. This is what members of one local association did. Thus, it is known that to support the written use of the Creole language in Mauritius, its members are preparing an entire publication in many languages, which will contain translations of Alain Fanchon's poem entitled “The Paper Boat” (originally written in Creole).

The island is located in the middle of the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, and has a complex history. As a result, today English and French are used equally, but in everyday life the local Creole is widely spoken, as well as the so-called Bhojpuri, which is of Indian origin. According to Mauritian law, the country has no official languages, and English and French are equal in law for government use. Although residents speak local Creole, it is not used in the media.

What is Unserdeutsch?

This name suggests from the very beginning that the word is of German origin, even to those who do not know the German language. However, Unserdeutsch has nothing to do with modern Germany, but dates back to the colonial period in the history of Papua New Guinea and Australia. An interesting fact is that it is the only creole language in the world that is based on the German language. In the 70s of the 20th century, researchers in New Guinea accidentally discovered the use of Unserdeutsch, which translated sounds like “our German.”

Thus, today he is the only surviving Creole on the planet with such a basis. At the moment, less than a hundred people use Unserdeutsch. And, as a rule, these are old people.

How did Unserdeutsch come about?

The dialect was formed near a settlement called Kokopo in the territory of New Britain. Members of the Catholic mission were located in this area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Local children were trained as nuns, and the training was conducted using literary German. Little Papuans, Chinese, Germans and those migrating from Australian territory played together, causing the languages to mix and form a German-dominated pidgin. This is what they later passed on to their children.

Seminole language

Afro-Seminole Creole is a language that is considered to be an endangered dialect. This dialect is used by Black Seminoles in a certain area in Mexico and such American states as Texas and Oklahoma.

This nation is associated with the descendants of free Africans and Maroon slaves, as well as the Galla people, whose representatives moved to the territory of Spanish Florida back in the 17th century. Two hundred years later, they often lived with the Seminole Indian tribe, hence the name. As a result, cultural exchange led to the formation of a multinational union in which two races participated.

Today, their descendants live in Florida, as well as in rural areas in Oklahoma, Texas, the Bahamas and some regions in Mexico.

A review of materials from our archive on the origins and history of the French Creole language.

audio file No. 1

In the illustration: A black soldier is a resident of French Martinique from the so-called. Creole battalion of the French armed forces during the First World War (1914-1918), which fought in Europe.

Ill. from the book “The Creole Battalion (Le Bataillon créole, Mercure de France 2013 edition), dedicated to the inhabitants of Martinique, who spoke French Creole and fought for the metropolis.

The author of the novel is the famous modern French-Creole writer from Martinique, Raphaël Confiant, whose discussions about French Creole are also given in this review. Raphael Confiant is a Creole. His rum-making ancestors included both white and black people.

Note that the French word créole comes from the Portuguese word criar (“nurtured”, “fed”). The word originated in the Portuguese West African colonies in the 15th century to refer to Portuguese people born outside of Portugal. At first, only whites were called this, but then the word came to mean people of mixed origin (mestiços), one of whose parents was a European. This mixing happened very quickly, because There were few European women in the Portuguese colonies, and the colonists entered into relationships with local women.

Now there are creole languages created on the basis of English, Portuguese, Spanish and French, respectively the word « Creoleth» exists in all these languages.

You can see here how strangely the letters of Haitian Creole are written. The language is like French, but written in an unusual way and according to the principle: as it is heard, so it is written.

Haitian Creole is considered to be a dialect of French Creole. Like Haitian Creole, French Creole is a rare language in international broadcasting.

Currently, the only major broadcaster broadcasting in French Creole is Voice of America. These broadcasts began for the first time in 1986.

In our audio file In the upper left corner of this page you can appreciate the sound of Haitian Creole, which is considered a dialect of French Creole. A recording of Portalostranah .ru began broadcasting from the Haitian-Creole service of Voice of America radio on May 2, 2014. Haitian Creole plays after the station's English intro;

French Creole originatedin the 17th century based on the standard French language adopted in Paris, the French Atlantic ports and the nascent French colonies. French Creole is spoken by millions of people around the world, primarily in the Americas and the Indian Ocean.

Screenshot from the page of the Creole (French-Creole) service of Radio France Internationale (RFI) with the announcement of the closure of broadcasting in Creole.

Unlike the Voice of America, Radio Française Internationale - RFI, the French state foreign broadcaster, refused to broadcast in Creole, although in 1985-2006. There was a daily 30-minute broadcast, which in recent years was transmitted, in addition to short waves, also via satellites and on the Internet, along with 18 other language services of the radio station.

Justifying the decision to close the Creole section, RFI management cited financial reasons in 2006 (indeed, the station's budget was cut). But at the same time it launched two new services in Hausa and Swahili.

“French Creole is clearly considered a dead language,” employees of the RFI Creole service said then, commenting on the station management’s decision to close Creole-language broadcasting.

They told news agencies that in private conversations, the station's management gave other reasons for the closure: "The management says that the Haitian elite already speaks French well, and therefore there is no great need to continue broadcasting in French Creole."

Currently The following French creole languages are distinguished::

Haitian Creole(kreyòl ayisyen) is a corrupted French interspersed with words from Spanish, Portuguese, English, and various West African tribal dialects, adopted in Haiti as the second official language after French;

Louisiana Creole it is spoken approx. 70 thousand people in the American state of Louisiana, once part of the former colony of New France. Louisiana Creole is a language close to Haitian;

Antillean French-Creole language is a corrupted French interspersed with the languages of former slaves from Africa (used as a colloquial language in Guadeloupe and Martinique, which belong to France, while French is official there);

Guianan Creole language is a corrupted French interspersed with the languages of former slaves from Africa, as well as Portuguese (used as a colloquial language in French Guiana, but the official language there is French);

Mascarene Creole language, so-called Bourbon Creole (créole bourbonnais). The name comes from the former name of Reunion Island, as Bourbon Island was called until 1793, in honor of the French royal dynasty. The Mascarene Creole language is derived from French, a mixture of African and Indian languages, and the Malayo-Polynesian-derived Malagasy language of neighboring Madagascar.

Mascarene Creole is spoken on the islands of the Mascarene archipelago, off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean: French-owned Reunion (where the official language is French) and independent Mauritius (where English is the official language), in the Republic of Seychelles (where Mascarene Creole is the official language , along with English and French);

Picture from the Martizik electronic music festival (May 2014)

A picture from the electronic music festival Martizik (May 2014), taking place for the fifth time in Martinique and bearing a French-Creole name.

Ill. Editions France-Antilles (Martinique).

A Creole take on French Creole

FROM THE ARCHIVE. READ IN

Next is a publication about French Creole, its origin and history. The article was published in the UNESCO Courier (8/83) under the title "Caribbean Creole". Its author was a French writer from the island of Martinique, a Creole Raphaël Confiant, writing in French Creole and French. This publication was prepared at one time by Confiant in collaboration with a teacher with Felix Prudhan, also from Martinique. Together they conducted the French Creole Research Program in the 1980s. Now Raphael Confian has also become a very famous Creole writer.

The publication said:

“Around 1615, French privateers (pirates in the service of the French monarch. Note site) seized a beachhead on a rocky island in the Caribbean, which they called Saint-Christopher. At that time, this archipelago “belonged” to the Spanish crown, but rival European powers decided to join the fight for their share of the spoils. (The name Saint-Christopher, given by the Spaniards in honor of Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travelers. Nowadays it is the independent state of Saint Kitts (short for Saint Christopher) and Nevis, completely anglicized after the departure of the French and subsequent centuries as a British colony. Note. Portalostranah.ru)

The first French privateers mentioned above, who settled in the West Indies (modern Caribbean), were knights of the sea and sword, not burdened with excessive piety. Making daring raids on Spanish settlements, they captured slaves. At the same time, they managed to establish relations with the local inhabitants (Indian peoples) of the Caribs on the Windward Islands (the eastern part of the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea). The French then established settlements in Guadeloupe and Martinique (1635, founded by the French privateer Pierre Bélain d'Esnambuc), Saint Lucia and Grenada (1650), Guiana (1660) and Tortuga, which became the springboard for the conquest of Santo Domingo (1697).

On all these islands a Creole language is still spoken, which, despite some local variations, is characterized by a fairly homogeneous structure.

The terms "creole" and "creole" not only have multiple meanings in French, but also define different concepts in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch. In one case, a creole is called a white descendant of the owner, in another, a black person of African descent, and sometimes this word is used to define intermediate stages of ethnic mixing. Nevertheless, clear semantic boundaries can be traced from Louisiana to the borders of Guiana.

The terms “creole” and “creole” are always used as the opposite (antonym) of words or phrases that mean something alien, foreign, artificially introduced or penetrated into the community from the outside, but has not taken root. Both noun and adjective invariably carry the meaning of symbolic rebirth or complete integration into a new ecosystem. Creole languages, which for the sake of convenience are too often associated with European linguistic groups, are always considered reads, mutants or offspring who do not recognize the attributed kinship.

Such a formulation of the question of the genesis of the Creole language in itself is tantamount to inclusion in the endless discussion going on in this area.

It would seem that the Creole language, associated with French colonization in the 17th century, spread extremely quickly, arose as a means of satisfying the need for a new type of communication between unequal partners. In fact, a more careful analysis would indicate that blacks and whites most likely worked together to create this new language and that even before the arrival of large quantities of slaves, Creole was the language of everyday communication of all inhabitants of the archipelago, regardless of their ethnic origin.

With the discovery of the enormous economic benefits of sugarcane plantation cultivation (1685) and the sharp decline in the number of white indentured laborers, the Creole language began to spread in black communities from the beginning of the next century, and only then it began to be called the Negro language. It should be noted that today beke(white settlers of the West Indies) speak a Creole language, which they never completely abandoned.

We reject both the dialect hypothesis, which claims that Creole is derived from French, and the neo-African hypothesis (according to which Creole appeared as a result of the revival of a pre-existing African pidgin (a simplified language of slaves. Note site), leaning towards a mixed hybrid, in a word, mulatto origin Creole language, the vocabulary of which actually contains 80% French words, while certain aspects of its morphology, syntax and phonetics resemble, according to a number of experts, West African languages.

It must be recognized that the sociolinguistic characteristics of the Creole language are more important than its genetic or typological classification. The Creole language of a rural community, divorced from the written word, official documents and remarkable technological discoveries, provides a basic system of communication within relatively small communities, deeply imbued with customs and traditions that guarantee the survival of the social order existing in these communities.

Haitian Creole

and French in Haiti

As of 2014, not a single official website of the executive authorities of the Republic of Haiti: the President, the Government and the ministries is presented in Haitian Creole, but only in French. Only the website of the Chamber of Deputies of the Haitian Parliament has a version in Haitian Creole; this version no longer works on the Senate page.

Both of Haiti's oldest daily newspapers: Le Nouvelliste (published since 1898 .) and Le Matin (released with 1907 .) are published in French. The same applies to the popular weekly Ticket, which is published by the editors of Le Nouvelliste, along with the English-language weekly supplement Lakay Weekly.

From the weekly newspapers: the newspaper Haïti Progrès has a supplement in Haitian Creole, along with a main edition in French and editions in English and Spanish; The weekly newspaper Haïti Liberté is published on twenty-sixteen pages written in French, two pages in Haitian Creole and two in English.

Haiti's state television, Television Nationale D'Haiti, broadcasts primarily in French..

And with this information one can evaluate the influence of Haitian Creole on Haiti. Note that in the modern period, Haitian Creole is studied only in elementary school.

The Barcelona Linguamón (House of Languages, an institution sponsored by the Catalan government) describes the situation with the Haitian language in its publication as follows (data for 2014):
“Haiti, following the United States, became one of the first American states to declare its independence when black former slaves took power into their own hands in 1804 (note site).
Having gained independence, the new state of Haiti completely isolated itself from France. The local elite recognized their language as a variant of French, more or less influenced by Haitian Creole; this language was a sign of social distinction.

French became the official language of the country, used by the government and law enforcement system, and used in education. This helped the elite maintain power, since the rest of the population did not know French. Only the children of the elite learned both languages at home and improved their knowledge of French in schools. Thus, despite the lack of contact with native speakers, the French language continued to be passed down from generation to generation throughout the history of the independent Republic of Haiti.

Linguist Charles Ferguson, using the example of the linguistic situation in Haiti, gave a definition of diglossia. However, the legality of applying the term diglossia to the linguistic situation in Haiti was subsequently questioned; one of the arguments put forward was the fact that only 5% of the population speaks French.

Since the 1980s Haitian Creole began to be used in religious andpolitical publications and even in presidential speeches. IN 1979. The government, in order to improve literacy levels, adopted a decree on compulsory teaching of Haitian Creole to children in the first four grades of schools s.

After some debate over how similar the orthography of Haitian Creole should be to the French orthography, a group of linguists from the University of Paris proposed a compromise, which the Haitian Ministry of Education officially adopted as the normative orthography in 1980. The Haitian Creole language is characterized by a rich literary tradition that has existed since the early 19th century.

Haitian Creole can be distinguished into three dialect variants: Northern, spoken in the area around the city of Cap-Haitien; central, common in the area of the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince; southern. The central dialect, the capital dialect, is especially popular, and some Haitians speak two dialects, their native dialect and the capital dialect.”

Website monitoring (May 2014)

After the revolution 1804. Haiti has a favorable environment for the development of the Creole language. Then it turned out that, having rejected slavery and colonialism, the Haitians created a state that was both isolated and free from foreign tutelage, within which communication was difficult. As a result, although the capacity of the educational system is negligible compared to the theoretical needs of the population, and the media reaches only a limited contingent, the Republic of Haiti remains a country where the bulk of the population speaks Creole.

Despite the lack of statistics regarding the languages spoken in this country, most experts believe that about 80% of the population speaks only Creole. Only the "elite" - the privileged 5% living in Port-au-Prince and (its suburb) Pesionville and having received a full-time school education - can currently claim knowledge of standard French (According to 2014, up to 90-95% The population of Haiti speaks Creole as a spoken, home language (Approx. website).

A different sociolinguistic situation developed in the Lesser Antilles and Guiana, which remained under French control. After the abolition of slavery (1848) and the movement for universal secular education (early 20th century), the French language gradually strengthened its position. After the Second World War, the growing number of transistor radios, televisions, the development of telephone communications, periodicals, a significant expansion of school enrollment programs and increased population mobility between the "mother country" and the "overseas territories" all undoubtedly contributed to the retreat of the Creole language in those areas , where it was the natural language of communication. Political and sports commentators use French much more often, and even in markets and village gatherings, Creole is heard less and less.

A similar process is taking place in the West Indies, especially in Dominica and Saint Lucia, over which France lost its dominance in the 19th century; but here, apparently, it is no longer French, but English, that is displacing the Creole languages and accelerating their decline. (Dominica (from 1783) and Saint Lucia (from 1814) passed from France to Great Britain, now independent Caribbean republics with English as the official language. Note site)

Although the creoles of Dominica and Saint Lucia are very similar in syntax and vocabulary to the creoles of Guadeloupe and Martinique, the creoles of these former English dominions are rapidly coming under influence from English.

This problematic coexistence of a vernacular, rural language of everyday communication (which is French Creole here) side by side with an official, written, influential language has been studied by North American sociolinguists under the general name diglossia. (Definition of diglossia: bilingualism (bilingualism, in which two languages or two forms of one language coexist in a certain territory or society, used by their speakers in different functional areas. Diglossia is characterized by a situation of unbalanced bilingualism, when one of the languages or variants acts as “ high", and the other - "low"). Note site) However, more serious research has recently refuted the possibility of such an idea of the harmonious coexistence of two languages in the Caribbean region.

Residents of the West Indies and Guianas are not fully bilingual, choosing either Creole or French for conversation on a case-by-case basis.

On the contrary, a kind of third language is gradually emerging, a kind of mixture of Creole with French or English - a system that, apparently, is extremely unstable, but nevertheless wins ardent supporters in the field of popular hits, fiction, box-office periodicals and simply in everyday life. communication of all members of the community (The statement about the prosperity of a mixture of Creole and French, i.e. French Creole, is no longer supported by facts. French, like English, is successfully replacing creole languages. Note site). This French-aligned creole or creolized French.

According to some researchers, Creole only continues its “life cycle”; interacts with the standard language as a result of recent socio-economic changes and ultimately merges with the language that gave birth to it. They believe that the Creole language will gradually disappear as it is absorbed by the symbolic power of the standard language, the mastery of which is the enduring goal of the disadvantaged Creole speakers.

However, the local school of social linguistics argues that one should not rush to such gloomy conclusions. Indeed, from a subjective point of view, the state of the Creole language in Guiana and the West Indies may seem deplorable. The village settlements, which were the original soil for him, have disappeared from the face of our earth, and the younger generation is carried away by overseas words borrowed from Parisian argot, Jamaican speech forms, songs of American blacks or student slangs of different countries.

Yet Creole plays a stabilizing role in the lives of these young people. It is a factor of cultural identity and connection with history, which is constantly in the spotlight. Caribbean youth are beginning to understand that, despite the obvious advantages of the French language at school, at work and in communication with foreigners, Creole is a means of preserving culture. Therefore, it is no longer possible to speak of Creole as a language that is treated with disdain or contempt by its speakers...

The governments of the countries concerned appear to be moving towards recognizing Creole as the language of their citizens. In Haiti, thanks to a radical educational reform launched in 1979, Creole is taught as a first language in primary schools.

The governments of Saint Lucia and Dominica, although they have not gone that far, are taking steps to promote the recognition of Creole as a linguistic and cultural reality. The situation is worse in Guiana, Guadeloupe and Martinique. And the problem is not a lack of personnel or printed materials, but the slowness of the authorities.

However, the latest guidance regarding regional languages in France gives us hope that reforms will be introduced in the area of teacher training. Such reforms are absolutely necessary for the gradual introduction of Creole into the education system as both a working language and a subject of study,” noted the UNESCO Courier. (As of 2014, French Creole is studied in colleges (as high schools are called in France) of Martinique and Guadeloupe two hours a week. However, in official life this language is not used - it is indecent. At the same time, a popular electronic music festival in Martinique, held for the fifth time, took the Creole name Martizik. It is important to note that the media of Martinique and Guadeloupe work exclusively in French. Note Portalostranah .ru).

This material was compiled on the site based on several publications, including material from the archived issue of the international magazine “UNESCO Courier” and notes from the Barcelona House of Languages; the site had an introduction and notes.

Although there is no mention of an official language in the Mauritian Constitution, 90% of the country's population speaks Mauritian Creole. Of course, the law mentions that parliament must speak English or, if desired, French. However, it is Creole that is considered the native language and is most often used in Mauritius in informal settings.

The history of the Creole language in Mauritius is quite interesting: it was developed by slaves who had to somehow communicate with each other and interact with their French owners, who did not understand African languages. Thus, Creole is a contact language based on French and is generally quite close to it in vocabulary and pronunciation. But there are also differences: for example, Creole does not have postalveolar and fricative consonants and, in general, it is much simpler in terms of grammar and phonetics.

One way or another, people in Mauritius change their language of communication depending on the situation. If in everyday life Creole is most often spoken, then in a business environment they can also use French. Most newspapers and media broadcasts are printed in French, and many English-language television programs are also shown dubbed into French. But in the government and government agencies, English is more commonly used. It is in English that instruction is also provided in schools and other educational institutions.

Most Mauritians are fluent in two or three languages. But unfortunately, not all of us took French at school, so if you're going to Mauritius, you'll definitely need our short Creole phrasebook, which covers basic words and phrases with pronunciation.

Memo for Beginners

In Creole, the stress is always on the last syllable.

Creole has no articles, noun genders, or verb conjugations.

Despite the fact that the Creole language does not officially have a written language, it is often translated into a written form based on the Latin alphabet according to the principle “as it is heard, so it is written.”

Greetings and farewells

Basic Phrases

Appeals

For the tourist

I came from Russia	Mont Sortie la Ricy
I don't understand	Mo pa compran
What is the price?	Sa kut komye?
Very expensive
Where can I have breakfast?	Kot mo kapav pran peti dezhene?
Where can I have lunch?	Kot mo kapav dezhene?
Where can I have dinner?	Kot mo kapav dine?
Where's the marlin?	Marle cat?
Where is the boat station?	Kotena boat house?
	La pèce poisson
	La pharmaci

In a hotel

At the restaurant

Please bring a menu	Done moa menu silvuple
Nice restaurant	Bon restaurant













Banana

Portugal's colonial expansion in the sixteenth century led to the formation of creole languages in three main areas: West Africa, India and Sri Lanka, and Malaysia and Indonesia. In each case, the source language was influenced by local languages. The use of reduplication common to local Austronesian languages can be found in Malay creoles (e.g. gatu-gatu,"cats", in papyang kristang).

MAURITIAN CREOL LANGUAGE

The formation of the Creole language of the island of Mauritius was influenced by speakers of Malagasy and Tamil, as well as some African languages. Despite this, much of the Mauritian vocabulary is easily recognizable as French; the grammar of this language is completely different from French. Many nouns begin with the French definite article merged with the rest of the word, as in the case of lagazet"newspaper" (some kind, indefinite), but the Mauritian language has developed its own form of the definite article, derived from the French demonstrative pronoun (lagazet-la,"newspaper" (this one, definite)

Prefix ti- goes back to the French word petit but acts as a diminutive prefix like diminutive prefixes in Bantu languages (en ti-lakaz,"small house"). Reduplication of an adjective after a noun means weakening of the attribute, as in en rob ruz-ruz,"reddish dress"; this phenomenon most likely came to Mauritian Creole from the Malagasy language.

The Portuguese-Creole language of Sri Lanka, influenced by Sinhala, allows SOV word order in a sentence, as in the following case: e:w te;n dizey ta;l pesa;m-pe pe-kaza, literally "I have a desire to marry this person."

The Portuguese colonies in the East Indies covered the territories of Malacca and Macau. There, Portuguese merchants mixed with the local population, which led to the emergence of Creoles, who absorbed a large share of the Portuguese vocabulary. Malaccan Creole of Malaysia, formerly spoken in the Catholic community, is also known as Papya Kristang, "Christian speech". In Macau, founded in 1555, Portuguese settlers and Malay women mixed with the local Chinese population, leading to the formation of a Portuguese-based creole language with major influences from Malay and Cantonese Chinese.