CAZAL Anne-Sophie HOAREAU Cynthia

Master II Recherche Monde Anglophone

ETUDE DU LIVRE D'AXEL GAUVIN: DU CREOLE OPPRIME AU CREOLE LIBERE

Expos du 04/10/11 Introduction:

Dtak la lang po dmay lo kr, this Creole proverb brings up for discussion the question of language in society. The question of the official language in a country is very important because it is a part of the identity of every human being. Thank to this language, he creates his linguistic environment; there is a link between his first words and the linguistic status of the country. And this can bring some major problems because very often the official language is not the same as the mother tongue, like here in Reunion Island. The book of the Reunionese writer, Axel Gauvin, Du Crole opprim au crole libr1, deals with those problems of duality of languages. We focus our study on this book and the impacts it has caused in society. We will see what is the linguistic situation in Reunion Island throughout two parts: at first the linguistic situation expressed in the book in 1977 and then how it evolved from 1977 to nowadays. I- Linguistic situation in Reunion Island at 1977 in Axel Gauvin's book : Du crole opprim au crole libr Axel Gauvin was born in August, 3 1944 at Saint Denis. He has grown up in Reunion Island among his family. His mother is a teacher and head teacher as her father, whereas his father is a farmer, deep-rooted in the Reunionese society. For his mother's family, to speak French is an honor. He was sent to Saint Cloud for his university studies. He obtained a Natural Sciences degree and also a certificate to become a teacher. After his come back in the island, he becomes the spokesperson for Creole: he publishes poems, essays, books in Creole, in French or in both. He stands for the specificity of Creole as a full language, in particular in his book published in 1977, Du crole opprim au crole libr in which he develops his view point on the promotion of Creole. The book is divided into three parts: firstly, Le crole une langue, then Langue crole et colonialisme franais, and the last part entitled Et demain: vers un bilinguisme authentique. 1) LE CREOLE, UNE LANGUE In the first part, the author expresses the idea that Creole is a language and it has to be recognized as one, not only by the French State but also by the Reunionese people himself. Because people see Creole as a dialect, a common patois not as a regional language. It is

1 Axel, Gauvin. Du creole opprim au creole libr, defense de la langue runionnaise. L'Harmattan, 1977; this work will be refered to as DCO-DCL

commonly said that Creole is a form of distorted French2. But it is not at all. Indeed, it has a grammatical structure very different from French. Creole's vocabulary is composed by various contributions of other languages as Malagasy, Portuguese, Indian, Indo-Pakistani. Examples of words coming from these languages: bib, papang, larak, brd, karya, gni, sabouk3. And there is also a large part of French contribution. Those French words raise some problems because they lead a double incomprehension for the Creole monolinguals and the French monolinguals. As an example the word amuser, for a Creole monolingual that means to drag on and also to have fun but for a French monolingual that just means to have fun. There are lot of misunderstandings and misinterpretations between both of them because of the difference of meanings with the vocabulary. Another problem exposed by Axel Gauvin is the question of a written form for a language which for the major part is oral. Creole can be divided into three forms: the first one called le crole petit-bourgeois spoken by people who try to Frenchify Creole language, the second one le crole des hauts spoken by people who live in what we call les hauts de l'le and the third one le crole des bas generally spoken by people who live on the coast4. The scientists have great difficulties to decide which one they will choose and the written form teaching at university is not the easiest one5. As I previously said, people in this island, at the book's time, didn't see Creole as a language, it was more like a dialect and according to the writer this way of thinking is due to the colonialist ideology and the alienation of the people6. 2) LANGUE CREOLE ET COLONIALISME FRANCAIS In this second part, Axel Gauvin enlightens the fact that there is a situation of diglossia in Reunion Island7. As we all know, Reunion Island has a particular colonial history: it was not the crushing of a population, the French colonizers brought slaves from several countries to populate this island. French was the language of the dominants, it was compulsory, people were forced to speak French. If they didn't speak French, they were seen as outcasts. The French colonialism is one of the most oppressive in the linguistic field. The colonial politics was dnigrer, exclure, pourchasser la langue crole8. Creole is forbidden and punished at school, it was reduced to marronage. Children are ashamed to speak in class because they cannot speak French and they don't even understand it. Gauvin explains the
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DCO-DCL, p.36 DCO-DCL, p.36 DCO-DCL, p.23 DCO-DCL, p.44 DCO-DCL, p.51 DCO-DCL, p.55 DCO-DCL, p.57

shame of speaking Creole by the fact that the status of a language depends on the status of the country in which we live, and as it represses, people feel repressed in their own identity9. The writer makes a virulent criticism against French colonialism for what it has done to Creole: C'est la langue rprime, c'est la langue bafoue, c'est la langue nie qui empche l'acession la culture, l'ouverture sur le monde, le dveloppement de l'esprit des enfants runionnais10. In his opinion, the institutions have to review the politics towards Creole language.

3) ET DEMAIN : VERS UN BILINGUISME AUTHENTIQUE For a possible evolution of the Creole status, it has to have also a change in La Runion's politics. He suggests an internal autonomy, a more large place for Creole in society. Language is a part of the individual's personality. To repress the mother tongue is to create shame, complexes and traumas in the minds of very young children who are completely overwhelmed. They are forced to speak French and think in another language that they don't understand11. French is difficult to learn for Reunioneses because of the multiple written forms, it is easier in Creole. Even so there is no media in Creole. Gauvin focuses on the political problem that the question of language has put in light, the problem of segregation. The writer gives some projects he wants to put in place to promote Creole: as the creation of a bilingual structure in the educative system. But this project would be possible only if the political context changes and that the oppression and domination stop. So, let's now see how the situation evolved after 1977. II- How it evolved from 1977 to nowadays: Axel Gauvin pursued his work for the recognition of reunionese creole as an official language. Throughout the years he organized numbers of meetings and events which focused on the importance of bilingualism in our society and on the best ways to improve the general situation, he created an association in 2001 which was called Tangol and an other one in 2006 lofis la lang krol rnyon . Both the associations had the aim of making the case for bilingualism in Reunion island. With his first association, Tangol Axel gauvin suggested a written form of reunionese creole also named tangol .
9 DCO-DCL, p.54 10 DCO-DCL, p.71 11 DCO-DCL, p.81

His second association Lofis la lang kreol was more organized, and is still functioning today and its main aim is to increase the value of reunionese creole in the society and first of all they want to understand and analyze this language in order to make possible a perfect bilingualism between creole/ french. The association is completely apolitical and is determined to make the whole island sign a charter about bilingualism. By signing it, each town engages itself to respect a few rules concerning the use of french and creole in everyday life. In 2009, le Port was the second town on the island to sign it. Four towns have signed it by now. We can thus say that the fight of Axel Gauvin for his mother tongue never fell off and is still active today. One of his wishes is to make the government pass an official written form of creole, as I said before, he proposed a written form in 2001 but other ones have also been suggested by now, there are three written forms which have been proposed these last years but the problem remains unresolved. One could think by listening to us today, that the creole is undermined in our society but we must underline the progress made these last decades, for example many reunionese artists who perform in creole are more and more nationally recognized for their talent and their need for expressing themselves in their mother tongue for example people like Daniel Waro, Davy Sicard, baster who often perform in France and other foreign countries and who often put messages in their songs which reminds reunionese people of the importance of reunionese creole it is the case of Baster in a song called Langkoz. Humorists also bring creole up. In literature we also witness the uprising of foreign comic books translated in creole, for example you may have seen in libraries versions of Lucky Luke and Tintin in creole. Even the Bible has its translation in creole. Local channels also broadcasted creole versions of french sitcoms such as Kamra kaf. you must have noticed the uprising of advertisements in creole and of course such attempts as putting a town's name in creole on traffic signs (Sin Dni). All of that to say that Reunion island is not ashamed of creole but there is a clumsiness in the way of using the language and in the methods to build a bilingual society. We can see this issue in the several attempts of bringing creole in the foreground which failed, in fact local television news were broadcasted in creole for the first time in 2001, on RFO these special creole versions were only broadcasted on Saturdays and it was called komsaminm . But they soon disappeared because it didn't work at all. Concerning the newspapers, they are also in french, creole is sometimes used in titles or quotations but that's all. Le Journal de l'Ile de la Runion has its website clicanoo but you have certainly noticed that only the name is in creole but all the articles you will find on the website are in french. And this remark can be applied to everything I mentioned previously, here's for example a reunionese magazine which is called anform and I let you see by yourself that all the articles in it are in french. So there are just attempts to use creole but

it seems that we are unable to make a full use of it. It is easier on the radio to make a place for both languages and that's probably because radio concerns the oral creole. In 1981 people were able for the first time to express themselves in creole on the radio. It is then obvious that the problem remains in the fact that there is not an official form of creole. And in an other way it is as if speaking creole to refer to serious matters in our society is completely shameful. We cannot deny the importance of politics in the fight for bilingualism, the book ends with a recall that the situation would improve in a best way with the help of politics. But the fact is that politicians try to show the population their involvement in the fight for bilingualism by talking creole from one time to the other or by signing this or that but all their actions remain superficial and it seems that they want to show they concern about the subject while staying in the background when it is about thinking about useful laws and actions.

Conclusion:
As a conclusion we would say that a perfect harmony between creole and french in Reunion island is far from happening. But it only depends on reunionese people and politicians' actions and determination. The title of Axel Gauvin's book is Du creole opprim au creole libr but it seems that the situation has not really changed from 1977 to nowadays despite the little progress in terms of pride and symbolic actions. So, in order to know your points of view, we have two questions for you: Do you agree with the idea of Mr Gauvin which consists in teaching learning and writing in creole to reunionese children? Do you think that Reunion island should settle down a system of bilingualism like in Paraguay?

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gauvin, Axel. Du creole opprim au creole libr, defense de la langue runionnaise. L'Harmattan, 1977. Axel Gauvin. http://www.lehman.cuny.edu/ile.en.ile/paroles/gauvin.html Paroles de langkoz de Baster. http://www.greatsong.net/PAROLESBASTER,LANGKOZE,102410144.html Association lofis la lang. http://www.reunionnaisdumonde.com/spip.php? page=profil&id=11125 Ouverture Lofis la lang kreol la Rnyon au Port. http://www.temoignages.re/ouverture-lofisla-lang-kreol-la,39897.html Saint-Joseph l'heure du bilinguisme. http://www.zinfos974.com/Saint-Joseph-a-l-heuredu-bilinguisme_a20592.html

APPENDIX 1 Sharte komine biling krol rnyon frans:

1. I ressoi demoune an krol rnyon konm an frans dann srvisse minissipal 2. I donn le droi koz an krol rnyon konm an frans dann konsy minissipal 3. Bann zlu i ansrv lo 2 lang an piblik 4. Na le droi mary an biling krol rnyon-frans 5. I donn linformasyon dessi lo droi mary an krol konm an frans 6. Na in bon plasse pou lo 2 lang dessi le site Internet la mri 7. Karton linvitasyon l an biling pou bann kabar kiltirl la mri i organiz. 8. Papi len-tte la mri l an krol rnyon ; logo la mri l an krol rnyon 9. Na in bon plasse pou lo krol dann zournal minissipal 10. Bann lafish pou anonse sak i espasse dan la komine l an biling 11. La mri i donn in koudmin (larzan, la tknik) pou dvlope bann klasse biling dan la komine 12. Dann mdiatk k bibliotk (sak la mri l rsponsab), i mte anlr sak La Rnyon la kr, sirtou sak l an lang krol

La Charte de ville bilingue:

1. L'accueil du public possible dans les services municipaux en crole runionnais et en franais. 2. La possibilit de communiquer oralement en runionnais et en franais lors des conseils municipaux. 3. L'utilisation des deux langues par les lus dans la communication orale publique. 4. Le message bilingue sur le rpondeur de la mairie. 5. La possibilit d'avoir une crmonie de mariage bilingue. 6. L'information donne au public quant la possibilit d'avoir une crmonie de mariage bilingue. 7. Le logo de la mairie bilingue. 8. L'aide financire et/ou technique l'installation ou au dveloppement d'une filire bilingue dans la commune. 9. La valorisation de la cration runionnaise, en particulier en langue crole de la Runion. dans les mdiathques et bibliothques dpendant de la mairie. 10. Le baptme rpublicain possible dans les deux langues. 11. Le mariage rpublicain possible dans les deux langues.

APPENDIX 2 Extrait de langkoz (Baster): [] T mon zanfan i fo ou l fir Gayar manir koz Sa papa momon la donn a tou Langaz pou cri ton libert T mon zanfan i fo ou l fir Sa langaz ton pi ot La ba ryon demoun pou lv Wi krol sa ton kalit Pa zordi sra domin fo nou mn nout lang pli loin Le peuple i domann pou koz Lang krol pou rnyon Pas zordi sra domin fo nou mn nout lang pli loin Po crit po nou kozer nou v nout lang rnyon Ou va di a moin : Krol sa pas un lang, li l zist bon pou f ri la geule Pou nou moukat pou casse la blague ansanm M pa pou diskit dan' in bl le ciel Ou va di a moin : Krol la sa pas un lang, li l zist bon pou f ri la geule Pou nou moukat pou casse la blague ansanm M pa pou diskit dan in bl le ciel Refrain Di a moin pou kou dann tout bann pi dehor Tout ti marmay i apran zot lang lkol Sistm la rnyon i interdi koze krol Li minm la pou tu nout marmay lkol Wi domin si nou ve bien guinlle koze frans Angl espanyol sinoi zapon Fo dabor ke nou l fir nout lang koz De nout culture kalit ryon Sa langaz la koze ali dann buro radio tl Sa langaz la apran ali lkol liniversit Sa langaz la koze ali dann buro radio tl Sa langaz la apran ali lkol liniversit Pa zordi sra domin nou mn nout lang pli loin (wooooooo sa langage ton momon) Le peuple i domann pou koz lang krol pou ryon Pa zordi sra domin nou mn nout lang pli loin Po cri po nou kos nou f nout lang ryon [...]