By Sarah-Claire Jordan
Madagascar
First of all, a French creole language is any creole language that uses French as the basis for its vocabulary and, to some extent, grammar. Creole languages are born when pidgins, or forms of communication used between groups that don’t share a common language, become the native languages of children and thus stabilize. They tend to form very easily in areas with high trade traffic between different cultures, like the colonies of a great European power.
The majority of creole languages are based on Western European languages, with French being a common one. However, there are many different French creole languages around the world. Here is what they all have in common, though:
The French used is usually 17th or 18th century French
Going back to the origins of creole languages in general, we can stop and take a look at how most French creole languages were formed. All of them are spoken in areas where the French had a presence, be it as colonizers or traders, usually the former. Since colonization happened in the 1700s and 1800s mostly, it’s safe to say that the French that African slaves and indigenous peoples were exposed to was the French from that time period.
This accounts for a lot of the differences in vocabulary and grammar between French creole languages and Modern Standard French. Many times you will find that a French word is used in a French creole language, but it has a different meaning in the French creole language, usually because it either isn’t used anymore in French or the meaning has changed over time in French. This, and other factors as well, contributes to the lack of mutual intelligibility French creole languages have with Modern Standard French.
Most French creole languages do not enjoy the same status as English or French
With the exception of Haitian Creole and perhaps one or two other creole languages, French creole languages are not considered languages of status. For example, in Mauritius, Mauritian Creole is only spoken at home and has no official status. English is still the official language, and even though it isn’t an official language, French has a higher status than Mauritian Creole, even though a big portion of the population speaks it as their native language.
The same goes for the French creole language of Réunion, another island in the Indian Ocean. In the case of Réunion Creole, a state of diglossia has developed where the language used in formal situations, such as school, is French, and the language used in informal situations is Réunion Creole. The fact that the French creole language of the country can’t be used in formal situations speaks volumes about how people feel about creole languages in general.
Of course, as Haiti has shown us, we don’t have to keep a French creole language “in its place” for the sake of making sure a more European language enjoys a higher status. All creole languages can share the same space as other languages, and no language will have its reputation hurt in the process. Alpha Omega Translation understands this well, and offers services from interpretation and translation to desktop publishing in a variety of French creole languages.
For an overview of our translation expertise, visit our media and marketing translation page.