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Seychelles Languages
Creole, the mother tongue of 94 percent of the nation
in
1990, was adopted as the first official language of the
nation in
1981. English is the second language and French the third,
all of
them officially recognized. The increased emphasis on
Creole is
designed to facilitate the teaching of reading to
primary-level
students and to help establish a distinct culture and
heritage.
Opponents of the René government thought it a mistake to
formalize Creole, which had no standardized spelling
system. They
regarded it as a great advantage for Seychellois to be
bilingual
in French and English; treating Creole as a language of
learning
would, they feared, be at the expense of French and
English.
Creole in Seychelles developed from dialects of
southwest
France spoken by the original settlers. It consists
basically of
a French vocabulary with a few Malagasy, Bantu, English,
and
Hindi words, and has a mixture of Bantu and French syntax.
Very
little Seychelles Creole literature exists; development of
an
orthography of the language was completed only in 1981.
The
government-backed Kreol Institute promotes the use of
Creole by
developing a dictionary, sponsoring literary competitions,
giving
instruction in translation, and preparing course material
to
teach Creole to foreigners.
More than one-third of Seychellois can use English, and
the
great majority of younger Seychellois can read English,
which is
the language of government and commerce. It is the
language of
the People's Assembly, although speakers may also use
Creole or
French. The principal journals carry articles in all three
languages.
Although discouraged by the René regime as a
colonialist
language, French continues to carry prestige. It is the
language
of the Roman Catholic Church and is used by older people
in
correspondence and in formal situations. Some 40 percent
of
television transmissions are in French--beamed by
satellite to an
earth station provided by the French government--and most
Seychellois can speak and understand the language.
Data as of August 1994
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