Réunion Creole
Encyclopedia
Réunion Creole or Reunionese Creole (En), or Créole Réunionnais in French (in Réunion Creole: Kréol Réyoné) is a creole language
spoken on Réunion
. It is derived mainly from French
and a few terms from other languages (Malagasy
, Hindi
, Portuguese
, Gujurati
and Tamil
).
In the recent years, some groups have tried to come up with a spelling dictionary and grammar rules but there is still no official version. Partly because of the lack of an official orthography but also because schools are taught in French, Réunion Creole is rarely written. Notably, two Asterix
translations into it have been published.
Réunion Creole has been considered to be structurally different from both other French-based creoles and from French. It is thus considered a semi-creole, thus somewhat similar to Afrikaans
.
. Most families at this time had at least one first language French speaker. It is because of this that Reunionnese Creole is not fully a Creole like Mauritian Creole.
Creole language
A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable natural language developed from the mixing of parent languages; creoles differ from pidgins in that they have been nativized by children as their primary language, making them have features of natural languages that are normally missing from...
spoken on Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
. It is derived mainly from French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and a few terms from other languages (Malagasy
Malagasy language
Malagasy is the national language of Madagascar, a member of the Austronesian family of languages. Most people in Madagascar speak it as a first language as do some people of Malagasy descent elsewhere.-History:...
, Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
, Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, Gujurati
Gujarati language
Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...
and Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
).
In the recent years, some groups have tried to come up with a spelling dictionary and grammar rules but there is still no official version. Partly because of the lack of an official orthography but also because schools are taught in French, Réunion Creole is rarely written. Notably, two Asterix
Asterix
Asterix or The Adventures of Asterix is a series of French comic books written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo . The series first appeared in French in the magazine Pilote on October 29, 1959...
translations into it have been published.
Réunion Creole has been considered to be structurally different from both other French-based creoles and from French. It is thus considered a semi-creole, thus somewhat similar to Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
.
History
It is within the first fifty years of Reunion being inhabited that Reunionese Creole first formed. Most of the people living in Reunion were either French, Malagasy or Indo-PortugueseIndo-Portuguese
The expression Indo-Portuguese Creoles may mean any of the creole languages spoken in India or Sri Lanka which had a substantial Portuguese influence in grammar or lexicon, such as* Sri Lanka Indo-Portuguese language* Diu Indo-Portuguese language...
. Most families at this time had at least one first language French speaker. It is because of this that Reunionnese Creole is not fully a Creole like Mauritian Creole.