Par intervenant > Ardoino Chiara

On 25 May 2023, the Assembly of the Territorial Collectivity of Martinique (CTM) voted – nearly unanimously – to make Martinican Creole (hereafter Kréyol) a co-official language alongside French. This decision could have wide-reaching implications for the future of Kréyol, if only it were recognised by the French State. However, France's notorious dislike for policies promoting language diversity (Woehrling, 2013), together with its rejection of a similar co-officialisation project in Corsica (Colonna, 2020), makes such recognition unlikely.

Whilst its legal and practical implications may therefore be limited, 25 May 2023 remains a pivotal day in the history of Kréyol, and one that could have a long-lasting symbolic impact on Martinicans' attitudes towards the variety. Language attitudes are highly permeable to changes in sociopolitical status, and Martinique is no exception. Until at least the late 70s, Kréyol was perceived as an inferior ‘patois' (Prudent, 1980) – a perception responsible for its dwindling intergenerational transmission (March, 1996; Beck, 2017). However, that perception had clearly changed by the summer of 2022, when one of the authors conducted field interviews in Martinique: nowadays, Kréyol is seen as a ‘language' in its own right, seemingly because of its official introduction in schools in the early 2000s (cf. Reutner, 2005).

25 May 2023 is a pivotal day not only for its potential implications on the future of Kréyol and other ‘regional languages' of France but, also, as the culmination of several decades of Martinican activist work. This paper shows how Kréyol changed from being perceived as a ‘gibberish' and ‘bad French' (Prudent, 1980) to gaining the title of regional language and, eventually, the contradictory status of ‘unofficially' co-official language. In this brief historical account, particular attention will be paid to the ideologies that have supported or opposed Kréyol's path towards co-officialisation. By analysing discourse published/broadcast around the key dates of Kréyol's co-officialisation (25 May 2023, for the CTM deliberation; 4 October and 21 November 2023, for its legal examinations) by a range of regional newspapers, radio and TV channels, we aim to provide a comprehensive overview of stances around the co-officialisation of Kréyol, from the viewpoint of different Martinican stakeholders (politicians, language activists, regular speakers). We are mostly interested in the reasons mobilised to support and oppose co-officialisation, and the ideologies and power struggles that underlie them. To what extent is Kréyol's co-officialisation tangled up with political claims of greater autonomy from the French State? Which utilitarian and symbolic reasons are mobilised to support or oppose the deliberation, and what can this tell us about the concerns of different stakeholders and the status of Kréyol in contemporary Martinican society?

Whilst this paper is empirical in nature, it also stands to make a theoretical contribution to the study of regional/minoritised languages. By retracing Martinican Creole's path towards co-officialisation and the language ideologies that have framed this process, we aim to shed light on the ways in which symbolic changes in a minoritised variety's sociopolitical status can overhaul the perceptions of its speakers, with potential implications for language transmission, usage and vitality.

References

Beck, B. (2017). La transmission des langues en Martinique, en Guadeloupe et à La Réunion. Cahier québécois de démographie, 46(2), 241-261. https://doi.org/10.7202/1054054ar.

Colonna, R. (2020). Les « langues de France » : des langues non-Étatiques au pays de l'État-nation. Glottopol. Revue de sociolinguistique en ligne, 34, 91-105.

March, C. (1996). Le discours des mères martiniquaises : Diglossie et créolité : Point de vue sociolinguistique. L'Harmattan.

Prudent, L.-F. (1980). Des baragouins à la langue antillaise. Éditions caribéennes.

Reutner, U. (2005). Sprache und Identität einer postkolonialen Gesellschaft im Zeitalter der Globalisierung. Eine Studie zu den französischen Antillen Guadeloupe und Martinique. Buske.

Woehrling, J.-M. (2013). Histoire du droit des langues en France. In Kremnitz, G., Broudic, F. & Garabato, C. A. (Eds.) Histoire sociale des langues de France (pp 71-88). Presses universitaires de Rennes.