From Creole to Standard

Shakespeare, Language, and Literature in a Postcolonial Context
Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-90-420-2623-0
Verlag: Brill | Rodopi

Buch, Englisch, Band 107, 239 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 544 g

Reihe: Cross/Cultures

This book gives a fascinating account of the unique history of the national – creole – language of Mauritius and the process of standardization that it is undergoing in postcolonial times. The central question is how far a creative writer's activity may affect the status and linguistic forms of a regional language. The book focuses on the work of the author Dev Virahsawmy, who, particularly through his Shakespeare translations, is an active agent in the standardization of Mauritian creole.
The approaches employed in From Creole to Standard combine a sociolinguistic examination of (changing) language attitudes with detailed textual studies of some of Virahsawmy's works to show the relation of his work to the process of language development. This book is relevant to the study of other creole languages undergoing standardization as well as to questions of language development more widely. Its strength lies precisely in its interdisciplinary approach, which addresses different readerships. Mooneeram’s study is of great interest to both postcolonial thinking and sociolinguistics but also has important implications for debates about the role of canonical literary works and their transmission in the wider world.
Her book is also a contribution to Shakespeare studies and the field of literary linguistics. There are interesting parallels between the contemporary situation of Mauritian creole and English in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Virahsawmy’s adaptations and translations into creole echo the role Shakespeare’s ‘originals’ played for English, and Mooneeram demonstrates how other writers have followed Virahsawmy in using literary forms to enrich the language.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Einzelne Sprachen & Sprachfamilien
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Englische Literatur Postkoloniale Literaturen in Englisch, Englische Literatur außerhalb Europas
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Historische & Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft, Sprachtypologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Postcolonial Creolistics, an Interdisciplinary Approach to Mauritian Creole
The Sociolinguistic and Literary Contexts
The Theatre of Protest: Overturning the Linguistic Superstructure
Virahsawmy’s Later Plays: Metalinguistic and Feminist Discourses
Iconoclastic Translation: Rewriting Shakespeare’s The Tempest in a Postcolonial Context
Identity-Forming Translations: Hamlet and Much Ado about Nothing
The Novel: Establishing the Narrative Voice
Conclusion: From Creole to Standard via Shakespeare
Works Cited

Über Autor(innen)

Roshni Mooneeram completed her undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the University of Leeds. After lecturing there and at Birmingham City University, she joined the China campus of the University of Nottingham, where she is currently based, as Acting Head of the Division of English Studies and Director of a research centre in Applied Linguistics at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. This book brings together her main research areas: literary linguistics, postcolonial studies, and Shakespeare studies.