Seychellois Creole
Categories: French pidgins and creoles | Languages of the Seychelles | Pidgins and creoles
Seychellois Creole, also known as Kreol, is the lingua franca of the Seychelles, as well as being an official language with English and French, unlike Mauritian Creole, which has no official status in Mauritius.
Since independence in 1976, the government of the Seychelles has sought to develop Creole as a separate language, with its own orthography and grammar, establishing Lenstiti Kreol (l'Institut créole), the Creole Institute for this purpose.
The spelling of words in Creole has been considerably simplified compared to the original French, as demonstrated by the different translations of 'we all need to work together to build our future', in the two languages:
- Creole: Nou tou bezwen travay ansamn pou kree nou lavenir.
- French: Nous tous avons besoin de travailler ensemble à créer notre avenir.
In Creole, the definite article (derived from the French le, la and les) forms part of the word, so that 'the future' is lavenir,(as opposed to avenir, which is 'future'). The possessive is formed by adding the pronoun, so that 'our future' is nou lavenir, literally, 'we-the-future'. Similarly in the plural, les Îles Éloignés Seychelles in French ('the Outer Seychelles Islands') becomes Zil Elwanyen Sesel in Creole. Note the z in Zil, as, in French, "les Îles" is pronounced /le"zil/.
Text Sample
- Ou, nou papa ki dan lesyel,
- Fer ou ganny rekonnet konman Bondye.
- Ki ou renny i arive.
- Ki ou lavolonte i ganny realize
- Lo later parey i ete dan lesyel
- Donn nou sak zour nou dipen ki nou bezwen.
- Pardonn nou pour bann lofans
- Ki noun fer anver ou,
- Parey nou pardonn sa ki n ofans nou.
- Pa les tantasyon domin nou,
- Me tir nou dan lemal.
(see also Koste Seselwa)
| Languages derived from French |
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In the Americas: Haitian Creole (Kreyòl) • Michif • Lanc-Patuá • Antillean Creole • Louisiana Creole (Kreyol Lwiziyen)
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