LES CRÉOLES: L'INDISPENSABLE SURVIE. Marie-Christine Hazaël-Massieux. Paris: Éditions Entente, 1999. Pp. 319. F 150, paper.

Abstract

This book, which appears in a series called Langues en Péril“languages in peril,” is an accessible and well-written panoramic view of the French-based creoles spoken in the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean. In her introductory remarks, author Marie-Christine Hazaël-Massieux addresses the confusions regarding the notions of language and dialect, presenting clearly and concisely how a linguistic system can be a language without being written or prestigious or belonging to any given geographical region. She touches on why some of the French-based creoles, such as Louisiana Creole French, may be endangered and extends the definition of an endangered language to include cases in which a creole can lose its “creoleness” through decreolization. This allows her also to discuss the question of diversity among French-based creoles, although, as she points out, this rich diversity is often overlooked for ideological or other reasons.