Article published In:
Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages: Online-First Articles

Reported language choice and usage of teenage Mauritians

A sociolinguistic perspective

ORCID logo | University of Wollongong , Australia
| University of Wollongong , Australia

This article investigates language choice and usage of teenage Mauritians and possible variations due to gender differences. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data from our investigation, we analyse language differences in male and female students when interacting with peers, using social media, evaluating language preference and making future plans. The findings reveal that teenage girls are more likely to use trilingual combinations (English, French, Kreol) in everyday interactions with friends and on social media whereas boys tend to favour Kreol predominantly. Respondents’ language attitudes towards English and French were influenced by academic success, opportunities for global mobility and employment. Positive attitudes towards Kreol were associated with its role as the Mauritian native language that allows ease of communication. Quadralingual combinations (English, French, Kreol and an Asian heritage language) were low, but preference for heritage languages was related to one’s cultural and ancestral ties as well as career prospects.

Keywords: Mauritius, multilingualism, Kreol, diglossia, language choice, language alternation, gender
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Current language situation
  • 3.Languages in the Mauritian education context
  • 4.Literature review
  • 5.Methodology and data collection
  • 6.Results
    • 6.1Language choice for the interview
    • 6.2Language use when interacting with friends
    • 6.3Language use with friends at school and at home
    • 6.4Receiving and sending SMS messages from/to friends
    • 6.5Perceptions of favourite language
    • 6.6Future plans & aspirations
  • 7.Discussion
  • 8.Limitations of study
  • 9.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 February 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.00133.bis
References
Angle, John & Hesse-Biber, Sharlene
1981 Gender and Prestige Preference in Language. Sex Roles, vol 4, issue 7. 449–461. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Aumeeruddy-Cziffra, Shirin
2022  Femmes, de l’ombre à la lumière . L’évolution des droits de la femme à Maurice . Mauritius: Editions de l’Océan indien.Google Scholar
Azzedine, Si M. & Tupin, Fréderic
1999 Les systèmes éducatifs à la Réunion et l’île Maurice : Quelle efficacité sociale ? International Review of Education 45(5/6). 529–546. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biltoo, Anil. K.
2004 Language maintenance and language shift in Mauritius: a sociolinguistic investigation into the language practices of Bhojpurias. PhD thesis. University of York, UK.
Bissoonauth, Anu
2011 Language shift and maintenance in multilingual Mauritius: the case of Indian ancestral languages. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 32(5). 421–434. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2012 Attitudes towards English in Mauritius: linguistic paradox or cultural pragmatism? In Cécile Coquet-Mokoko & Trevor Harris (eds), Crafting identities, remapping nationalities: the English-speaking world in the age of globalization, 87–102. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
2014 Language attitudes of Mauritian youth in secondary education: some preliminary results. In Arnaud Carpooran (ed.), Langues créoles, mondialisation et éducation, 247–266. Comité International d’Etudes Créoles (CIEC), Réduit: University of Mauritius.Google Scholar
2019 Language and attitude shift of young Mauritians in secondary education. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Online First, 1–15.Google Scholar
Central Statistics Office
2001 2000 Housing and population census of Mauritius. Volume II: demographic characteristics. [URL] (accessed 11 November 2018).Google Scholar
Corne, Chris
1999 From French to Creole. The development of new vernaculars in the French colonial world. Westminster Creolistics series 5. London: University of Westminster Press.Google Scholar
Eckert, Penelope
1998 Gender and sociolinguistic variation, in J. Coates (ed), Language and Gender: A Reader, 64–75. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar
2000 Linguistic Variation as Social Practice. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Eckert, Penelope. & McConnell-Ginet, Sally
2013 Language and Gender. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (second edition). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eisenlohr, Patrick
2004 Register levels of ethno-national purity: The ethnicization of language and community in Mauritius. Language and Society 33(1). 59–80. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2006 Little India. Diaspora, time, and ethnolinguistic belonging in Hindu Mauritius. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
2007 Creole publics: language, cultural citizenship, and the spread of the nation in Mauritius. Comparative Studies in Society and History 49(4). 968–996. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eriksen, Thomas. H.
2004 Ethnicity, class and the 1999 Mauritian riots. In Stephen May, Tariq Modood & Judith Squires (eds), Ethnicity, nationalism and minority rights, 78–95. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ferguson, Charles. A.
1959 ‘Diglossia’. Word 151. 325–340. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fishman, J. A.
1967 Bilingualism with and without diglossia; diglossia with and without bilingualism. Journal of Social Issues 231. 29–38. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gokulsing, Deepa. & Tandrayen-Ragoobar, Verena
2014 Gender, education and labour market: evidence from Mauritius. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 34 (9/10). 609–633. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Government of Mauritius
2019 Pamphlet “Know Your Rights” launched to sensitise migrant workers about their rights. [URL] (accessed 4 July 2020).
Grillet, Jeanne
1974 The patois situation in France. Anthropological Linguistics 16 (5). 197–201.Google Scholar
Guest, Greg, Mac Queen, Kathleen M., & Namey, Emily E.
2012 Applied thematic analysis. Los Angeles: Thousand Oakes, Sage Publications. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hinrichs, Lars. & White-Sustaita, Jessica
2011 Global Englishes and the sociolinguistics of spelling: A study of Jamaican blog and email writing. English World-Wide 32(1). 46–73. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holmes, Janet
1991 Language and Gender. Language Teaching 24(4). 207–220. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2006 Gendered Talk at work. Oxford: Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hookoomsing, Vinesh. Y.
1986 Langue et identité ethnique: les langues ancestrales. Journal of Mauritian Studies 1(2). 117–137.Google Scholar
Hookoomsing, V. Y.
1993 L’île Maurice et ses langues. In Revue du Livre: Afrique, Caraïbes, Océan indien. Littérature mauricienne. Notre Librairie 114, juillet-septembre 1993 26–32. Paris: C.L.E.F.Google Scholar
Hookoomsing, Vinesh. Y.
2009 Mauritius: Creole and/or multicultural? In Vinesh Y. Hookoomsing, Ralph Ludwig & Burkhard Schnepel (eds), Multiple identities in action. Mauritius and some Antillean parallelisms 19–29. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Key, Mary
1975 Male/female language. Metuchen, N. J: Scarecrow.Google Scholar
Kriegel, Sibylle, Ludwig, Ralph, & Salzmann, Tabea
2019 Reflections on discourse ecology and language contact: the crucial role of some scalar terms. In Ralph Ludwig, Peter Mühlhäusler & Steve Pagel (eds). Linguistic Ecology and Language Contact. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 179–213.Google Scholar
Lefort, Julie
2019 Chinese languages spoken in Mauritius: an overview. In Anu Bissoonauth-Bedford & Kumari Issur (eds), Lame dan lame? La main dans la main? Hand in Hand?, 1–22. Wollongong: University of Mauritius and University of Wollongong.Google Scholar
Ludwig, Ralph., Henri, Fabiola., & Bruneau-Ludwig, Florence
2009 Hybridation linguistique et fonctions sociales: Aspects des contacts entre créole, français et anglais à Maurice. In Vinesh. Y. Hookoomsing, Ralph Ludwig and Burkhard Schnepel, B. (eds). Multiple Identities in Action. Mauritius and Some Antillean Parallelisms. Peter Lang. Frankfurt: 165–202.Google Scholar
Miles, William. F. S.
2000 The politics of language equilibrium in a multilingual society: Mauritius. Comparative Politics 32(2). 215–230. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ministry of Education, Tertiary Education. Science and Technology. Nine Year Continuous Basic Education
2016 ([URL] (accessed 25 May, 2020).
Moorghen, Pierre. M. & Domingue, Nicole. Z.
1982 Multilingualism in Mauritius. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 341. 51–66.Google Scholar
Mufwene, Salikoko. S. & Vigouroux, Cécile. B.
2008a Colonization, Globalisation and language Vitality in Africa: An Introduction, in Globalization and Language Vitality: perspectives from Africa. Cecile V. Vigouroux, and Salikoko. S. Mufwene (eds), London, Continuum Press.Google Scholar
Mufwene, Salikoko. S.
2008b Language Evolution: Contact, Competition and Change, London, Continuum Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Myers-Scotton, Carol
2006 Multiple Voices. An Introduction to Bilingualism. Malden, USA, Oxford, UK & Carlton, Australia, Blackwell Publishing Ltd.Google Scholar
Nichols, Patricia. C.
1978 Black women in rural South: conservative or innovative. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 171. 45–54. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rajah-Carrim, Aaliya
2005 Language use and attitudes in Mauritius on the basis of the 2000 Population census. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 26(4). 317–332. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2007 Mauritian Creole and language attitudes in the education system of multi-ethnic and multilingual Mauritius. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 28(1). 51–71. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ramtohul, Ramola
2020 Women’s political representation in Small Island Developing States: A comparative analysis of Mauritius and Seychelles. Small States & Territories 3(1). 83–98.Google Scholar
2021 Diaspora and Development: Examining the case of Mauritius. [URL], 14 May 2021, (accessed 10 March 2022).
Ramtohul, Ramola. & Subbarayan, Sivaramen
2022 Gender Country Profile for the Republic of Mauritius. Port Louis: Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Mauritius and the Republic of Seychelles and Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Welfare.Google Scholar
Romaine, Suzanne
1995 Bilingualism. Oxford, UK. Blackwell Publishers Ltd. Second Edition.Google Scholar
Schlieben-Lange, Brigitte
1977 The language situation in southern France. Linguistics 1911. 33–44.Google Scholar
Sonck, Gerda
2005 Language of instruction and instructed languages in Mauritius. Journal of Multilingual and multicultural Development 26 (1). 37–51. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Statistics Mauritius
2012a 2011 Housing and population census. Volume II Demography and fertility characteristics. [URL] (accessed 18 November 2018)
Statistics Mauritius. Education Statistics – Year 2018
[URL] (accessed 16 August 2023)
Statistics Mauritius. Economic and Social Indicators. Issue No 1734. Gender Statistics. Year 2022
[URL] (accessed 22 August 2023).
Thomas, Beth
1988 Differences of sex and sects: linguistics variation and social networks in a Welsh mining village. Women in their speech communities: In Jennifer Coates & Deborah Cameron (eds). 51–61.Google Scholar
Trudgill, Peter
1974 Sociolinguistics: An Introduction. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin.Google Scholar
UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report
(2021) Mauritius Non-State actors in Education. [URL] (accessed 5 October 2023)