Abstract:

The first part of this paper examines measures for promoting minority languages applicable to creole language speaking communities. It is found that there is no language which is superior because of structural features but that most creole speaking communities continue to struggle with the prejudice that their language is “bad” or “broken” English, French , Spanish or Portuguese to such an extent that auto-odi has become part of the linguistic identity. Hence the importance of valorization campaigns to precede and accompany status and corpus planning measures. Language promotion is vital to these communities as it constitutes an opportunity for approximating sociocultural—and hence socio-economic—stability. The focus of the discussion lies on the specific characteristics of creole speaking communities, e.g. continuum situations, and on the educational domain. In the second part of the paper, the language promotion measures undert a ken in the educational domain by specific communities speaking creole languages based on Spanish, Portuguese, French, English, and African languages are discussed. The third and final section attempts an evaluation of the preceding discussion with the Chabacano community of the Philippines in mind.

Author: Angela Bartens