Mauritian Creole revisited: some inferences drawn from the study of a sample of Mauritian Creole data*

Abstract

"Possibly all change processes partake of the characteristics of creolization, with the particular historical circumstances making the crucial, but essentially quantitative, difference." (Hoenigswald 1971:479). If Hoenigswald's hypothesis proves to be correct, the implication is that the study of Creole languages has much to offer the theorist of language change. Morris Goodman's comprehensive study of French Creoles was published in 1964. In 1981 I collected a small sample of Mauritian Creole data in Calgary. In the hope that the time lapse would reveal some points of difference which could suggest appropriate questions or even directions for research in the field of language change, I examined the Calgary data in relation to Goodman's data and in relation to other references to French Creoles in the literature.