Chagossian Creole – Language Snapshot
Kasstan, J., Allen, P., Nellan, P. and Sheehan, M. 2024. Chagossian Creole – Language Snapshot. Language Documentation and Description. 24 (1). https://doi.org/10.25894/ldd.2492
| Title | Chagossian Creole – Language Snapshot |
|---|---|
| Type | Journal article |
| Authors | Kasstan, J., Allen, P., Nellan, P. and Sheehan, M. |
| Abstract | Chagossian Creole is a French-lexified Indian Ocean creole spoken originally by the indigenous population of the Chagos Archipelago. Between 1965-1973, the British government forcibly displaced the entire population of the archipelago to Mauritius and the Seychelles. Many Chagossians have since migrated to, or have grown up in parts of the UK when they gained citizenship in 2002. The Chagossian case is exceptional in that all Chagossians now speak Creole as a heritage language, far removed from their native shores, and dislocated from a traditional sociocultural base. There is scant published research available on Chagossian Creole lexicon, structure or practice, including on basic questions such as the extent to which their creole is now structurally/lexically aligned with its contact varieties; the extent to which their creole is intergenerationally transmitted; or how speakers now perceive or use Chagossian Creole. This dearth of research complicates the task of responding to the Chagossian community’s own articulated goals relating to language. This paper serves as the basis to build a community-based research agenda for Chagossian Creole. |
| Keywords | Chagossian Creole |
| kreol sagosien | |
| ilois | |
| French-lexified creoles | |
| Indian Ocean creoles | |
| Journal | Language Documentation and Description |
| Journal citation | 24 (1) |
| ISSN | 2756-1224 |
| Year | 2024 |
| Publisher | Aperio Press |
| Publisher's version | License CC BY-NC 4.0 File Access Level Open (open metadata and files) |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.25894/ldd.2492 |
| Publication dates | |
| Published | 12 Nov 2024 |
| Project | Towards safeguarding Chagossian Creole: Understanding how language attitudes and ideologies shape practice in exile and exodus |
| Funder | British Academy |