Exploring the linguistic landscape of Mauritius and the function of Creole in the written domain

Abstract

Analysing language use in Mauritius’ public spaces cannot provide an accurate reflection of the linguistic reality; yet it can give us a valuable insight into some of the complexities and attitudes towards the languages which make up this plurilinguistic island. Despite a rich sociolinguistic tradition, there has been little research into Mauritius’ linguistic landscape, with Bosquet-Ballah’s (2015) work being the first to examine the relevance of space to understand the sociolinguistic situation within the Mauritian context. This current study, although small-scale and preliminary in nature, takes both a quantitative and qualitative approach to the linguistic landscape of three areas; Port Louis (PL), the capital city, Ebene (EB), a newly-developed high-tech business area, and Flic-en-Flac (FF), a touristic seaside village.

By photographing approx. 100 street signs in a central location of each area (average sample area=750m), linguistic visibility in these public spaces could be compared. The languages present, Scollon & Scollon’s (2003) code preference system, and Blommaert’s (2013) sign types were used to categorise the signs. Other details including permanence, officiality and mono-/bilingualism were noted and compared.

Preliminary results show that English signage was invariably high in all areas (present on over 80% of signs), but French was less visible in EB (30.61%) and most present in FF (57.45%). The fact that very few multilingual signs in EB were translated (4.08%), along with the highest amount of monolingual signage (76.56%), implies sign-readers are expected to understand all the languages in question, unlike in FF, where translations were more common (20.69%). Creole signage was consistently low in all areas (7-8%) despite its oral prevalence. Further statistical tests will confirm these tendencies.

One aspect the quantitative approach does not consider is the amount and type of language used on the signs. Whilst Creole is clearly aimed at the local population in PL, Creole usage in FF tends to be restricted to one or two words on shop/restaurant fronts to signal Mauritian authenticity. The qualitative analysis delves further into these findings to investigate how the little Creole that appears is used, and what functions the different languages play in these areas. The approach outlined in Sebba (2012) facilitates this comparison through the analysis of content, spatial and linguistic features of multilingual texts.

Studying the linguistic landscape provides an insight into the unique multilingual situation of Mauritius by examining language contact in writing and exploring the spheres in which Creole is slowly expanding into the written domain.