Local experts learn about Creole research |05 July 2010

The project – Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures ¬¬– is being carried out by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, based in Leipzig, Germany.

It targets a systematic comparison of language structures by gathering information on 75 pidgin and Creole languages – including Seychelles Creole – using 120 grammatical features, including phonological segments.

The presentation, which was given on Thursday at the National Library and led by two of the project editors – Susanne Michaelis and Martin Haspelmath – was attended by Minister for Social Development and Culture Bernard Shamlaye, principal secretaries for education and culture Merida Delcy and Raymonde Onezime, and education and culture staff.

It included a volume of survey chapters giving a concise outline of the structures and socio-historical profiles of these languages. The data for the project were gathered by means of a detailed, technically sophisticated questionnaire.

The formation of the project was discussed in detail at a series of workshops in Leipzig and at other Creolist conferences elsewhere.