This study investigated the changing patterns of language use and language attitudes of younger generations of Mauritians over the last two decades. This article discusses the shift in language attitudes of students in secondary education with special emphasis on Kreol, taught since 2012 in primary schools and from 2018 in secondary schools. A…

This paper addresses how different media production teams negotiate the use of their minority languages in their practice. After a brief discussion of the concepts of language and description of a linguistic minority, a short review of similar research in the area of Minority Language Media is presented. Within this area, radio producers from…

This paper considers the rapid demographic shifts in contemporary American society as they manifest themselves in today's classrooms in the United States. An effort to articulate these twenty-first-century student identities is highlighted in data from an ethnographic case study examining the literacy practices of one student of Filipino and…

The Vanuatu government has recently implemented a policy of vernacular literacy. Children are now to receive the first three years of schooling in a vernacular language. Needless to say, in a country with less than 300,000 people [Vanuatu National Statistics Office 2016 Accessed January 4, 2016. http://vnso.gov.vu/] and more than 100 indigenous…

The increased status that Creole has enjoyed in Reunion over the last decade, coupled with more positive attitudes towards the language, has led to suggestions that diglossia may be giving way to a more balanced French-Creole bilingualism. Building on recent research indicating that the new-found status may be largely symbolic, the present article…

Negotiating their double identity as Mauritians and Muslims in multilingual and in multiethnic Mauritius, Mauritian Muslims have been socialised into reading and writing in Kreol in madrassahs, while they have never been exposed to Kreol literacy in mainstream education. At the point where Kreol is being introduced as an optional school subject,…

During the colonial period, the British transformed St. Lucia into an economic dependency, established British-modelled social institutions and sought to anglicise the island population. In the postcolonial world, language plays a role in the economic, social and cultural transformation of societies embarking on policies of national development.…

Mauritius is a multilingual postcolonial island of the Indian Ocean. Although the French-lexified creole, Mauritian Creole/Kreol, 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…

Examines stereotypes of both race and language as to the bases upon which they rest in popular thinking and in classical anthropology and linguistics. Suggests a need for fresh models to accommodate a dynamic relationship between social stereotypes and ethnic and linguistic focusing. (EKN)

Depicts the impetus and drive behind the development of a primary trilingual education curriculum for the Western Caribbean Archipelago of San Andre, Providence, and Santa Catalina. Based on outcomes in other multilingual education projects, hypothesizes positive academic gains in all areas at a cost benefit to the national government. (Author/VWL)

The island of Mauritius is examined, where Creole is the language of interethnic communication, English is used in government, the judiciary and education, and French is the dominant language of economic and cultural power. The historical background, educational situation, and possible future roles of the dominant languages are discussed. (33…

Discusses the idea that for many Black adolescents the use of creole is an assertion of identity and cultural difference. Examines the use of and attitudes toward creole by both Black and White adolescents in London. (EKN)

This paper reports on an empirical study of street language, a multilingual youth register in the Netherlands. Nearly 300 secondary school students completed a questionnaire on their acquaintance with and use of street language. A subsample of students was also interviewed. Use of street language will be related to background information about the…

Twelve languages--including the two prestigious colonial languages, English and French, a French-based creole and "ancestral" languages, such as Hindi and Mandarin--are spoken on the multiethnic island Mauritius. Given the multilingual and multiethnic nature of the nation, linguistic practices are an important way for Mauritians to…

Analyzes ethnolinguistic vitality of the French community in Louisiana in terms of its demographic, economic, political and cultural capitals. Results suggest that the present generation of youth of Cajun and French descent will not be able to transmit the French language to its children. (75 references) (Author/CK)