Seychellois Creole
Language · official in 1 country
Kreol grew out of the Mauritian Creole of the slaves brought to the Seychelles after French settlement in 1770, and drew apart from it after emancipation in 1835. Since 1978 it has been one of the three official languages of the Seychelles, beside English and French. It is the native language of over 99% of the population and the working language of the National Assembly.
The language on record
- Own name
- Kreol
- ISO 639-3
- CRS
- Script
- Latin
- Family
- French-based creole
- Official in
- 1 country
Where Seychellois Creole is official
The Seychelles is the record, with Creole official alongside English and French since 1978. Chagossian Creole, its one distinct dialect, is spoken by Chagossians abroad.
Official beside Seychellois Creole
About Seychellois Creole
How Kreol split from Mauritian Creole
French settlers from Mauritius first settled the islands in 1770, and most of the population were slaves. Their Mauritian creole drifted until it counted as a separate language, and it moved further after the slaves were freed in 1835 and Bantu peoples arrived from East Africa. Around 1900 Rodolphine Young adapted 49 of La Fontaine's fables into it, but they stayed unpublished until 1983.
Where Creole is used in public life
Independence came in 1976, and Creole became an official language in 1978. It is the main language of music, politics, public life and the mass media. Laws are still written in English, but the National Assembly works in Creole, and the verbatim record of its sittings gives a large corpus of formal Creole. Written literature has increasingly moved to English. Google added the language to its translation service in 2024, under the name Seselwa Creole French.
What French left inside Creole words
Many words took in the French article: "future" is lavenir, from l'avenir, and possessives use the plain pronoun, as in nou lavenir. The liaison of les Îles gave the z of Zil Elwanyen Sesel, the Outer Seychelles Islands. Loanwords are common for the modern world, food and drink, animals and the home, and absent from words for emotion and the physical world. Verbs have a long and a short form, the short one used before a noun or an adverb, and fer, "make", marks the causative.
Common questions
Questions about Seychellois Creole
When did Seychellois Creole become official?
In 1978, two years after independence. English and French are the other two official languages.
Is Seychellois Creole the same as Mauritian Creole?
No. It began as the Mauritian creole of the first slaves on the islands and diverged into a separate language, above all after emancipation in 1835 and the arrival of East Africans.
Who speaks Seychellois Creole?
Over 99% of the people of the Seychelles speak it natively. Its dialect Chagossian Creole is spoken by Chagossians in the United Kingdom, Mauritius and the Seychelles.