Kwéyòl in Postcolonial Saint Lucia

Download or read book Kwéyòl in Postcolonial Saint Lucia written by Aonghas St-Hilaire and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2011-09-15 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can historically marginalized, threatened languages be saved in the contemporary global era? In relation to the wider postcolonial world, especially the Caribbean, this book focuses on efforts to preserve and promote Lesser Antillean French Creole – Kwéyòl – as the national language of Saint Lucia and on the legacy of colonialism and impact of globalization, with which English has become the universal lingua franca, as mitigating factors undermining these efforts. It deals specifically with language planning for democratization and government; literacy, the schools and higher education; and the mass media. It also examines changes in the status of and attitudes toward Kwéyòl, English and French since national independence and presents language planning implications from these changes and steps already undertaken to elevate Kwéyòl. The book offers new insight into globalization and its impact on linguistic pluralism, language planning, national development, Creole languages, and cultural identity in the Caribbean.