Mauritian Creole
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| Mauritian Creole Kreol, Morisyen |
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| Spoken in: | Mauritius | |
| Total speakers: | 604,000[1] | |
| Language family: | Creole language French Creole Bourbonnais Creoles Mauritian Creole |
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| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | ||
| ISO 639-3: | mfe | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Mauritian Creole, also called Morisyen, is a creole language spoken in Mauritius. Almost all of its vocabulary stems from French, with smaller numbers of words from diverse sources such as English, various African and Malagasy dialects, Hindi and Cantonese.
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[edit] Description
It is the lingua franca of the country although English is the official language and standard French is widely understood and learnt. It is spoken widely by Mauritians throughout all parts of the island by all classes of people. However, for administrative purposes, the French language predominates whereas in places like Parliament, Court or academic institutions, a combination of the English and French languages is used.
The Creole is used vastly for rapid dissemination of information among islanders, not commonly for official purposes or formal situations. It is not formalized and as such does not have a dictionary, and is based and written on French sounds and writing.
Mauritian Creole has close ties with French pronunciation, but with a few marked differences - the Creole does not have some of the more deep and rounded consonants that the French does. The spelling here may vary if written, Creole being primarily a spoken language.
For example, manger (eat) in Creole is written manzer and is pronounced the same as the French, with the exception that the more rounded g sound in the French is flattened to sound like the s in the English word "vision". The deep "u" sounds in the French numerals un and deux are also flattened, leaving the Creole "en" and "de".
In 2005, Professor vinesh Hookoomsing of the University of Mauritius published the report "Grafi Larmoni" which seeks to harmonise the different ways of writing Mauritian Creole in Mauritius. Several dictionaries exist in monolingual or bilingual versions, its authors are Philip Baker, the group Ledikasyon pu travayer, Arnaud Capooran amongst others.
A Mauritian creole translation of the Holy Bible is under way.
[edit] Text sample
| Mauritian Creole | French |
|---|---|
| Nou Papa ki dan le siel Fer rekonet ki to nom sin, Fer ki to regn vini, Fer to volonte akompli, Lor la terre koman dan le siel. Donn nou azordi di pin ki nou bizin. Pardonn-nou nou bann ofans, Koman nou osi pardonn le zot ki fin 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 soumets pas à la tentation, Mais délivre-nous du mal. |
[edit] External links
[edit] References
| French-based creole languages |
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In the Americas: Haitian Creole (kreyòl ayisyen) • Lanc-Patuá • Antillean Creole • Louisiana Creole (Kréyol La Lwizyàn) • French Guiana Creole |
