LL sign
Despite a rich sociolinguistic tradition, there has been little research into Mauritius’ linguistic landscape. This current study, although small-scale, takes both a quantitative and qualitative approach to the linguistic landscape of Port Louis (PL) the capital, Ebene (EB) a newly-developed business area, and Flic-en-Flac (FF) a touristic seaside village.
Approximately 100 signs on a commercial street in each place were photographed. A semiotic approach was taken, whereby pharmacy and shop signage were compared in each place and the situational or metaphorical function of the signs were also examined (Hult, 2009). A closer look at the role of Creole and other minority languages in the linguistic landscape shows a glimpse of the complexity of the linguistic situation of Mauritius.
English signage was high in all places (80% signs), French was less visible in EB (30.61%) and most present in FF (57.45%). Creole signage was consistently low in all places (7-8%). In FF, Creole played a metaphorical role to signal Mauritian authenticity to tourists, whilst in PL it had a situational function as a vehicular language to reach locals in their native language. This study provides an insight into Mauritius’ multilingual situation through a semiotic lens, examining written language contact and the functions the different languages play in the public space.
Keywords: linguistic landscape, Mauritius, multilingualism, written practices, semiotics
Hannah Davidson
Junior Research Fellow in Linguistics and Associate Lecturer in German
I am a Junior Research Fellow in Linguistics at Newnham College, Cambridge and Associate Lecturer in German at the Open University.