Morisyen

Last Updated: 2020-08-06

HEAVILY COMPROMISED: conflation between /ks/ and /ɡz/ and possibly among several other phonemes; highly suspect orthography

Background

Language Family: Creole / French based

• Morisyen, also spelled Morisien, is commonly referred to as Mauritian Creole. It is spoken throughout Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean, just off Madagascar.

Phonology

Consonants

• According to Baker and Kriegel (2019), /h/ has marginal phonemic status; it’s relatively rare and is often elided (p. 253).

	Place of Articulation
Manner of Articulation	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stops	p b	t̪ d̪				k ɡ
Affricates				tʃ dʒ
Fricatives	f v		s z			ɣ	h
Nasals	m		n		ɲ	ŋ
Approximants	w		l		j
Note: For phonemes that share a cell, those on the left are voiceless, whereas those on the right are voiced.

Vowels

• The Morisyen language includes three nasal vowels (/ẽ/, /ã/, /õ/) as part of the phonemic inventory (Strandquist 2003, 8). Nasal vowels are orthographically represented with a following ⟨n⟩ (Carpooran 2011, 37).
• According to Baker and Kriegel (2019), there is evidence of /ə/ emerging as a sixth phonemic vowel (p. 252).
• Baker and Kriegel (2019) identify long variants for /a/ and /o/, represented orthographically by a following ⟨r⟩ in word-final positions or preceding consonants (p. 252). However, there is no mention if they are actually contrastive. Nevertheless, because (some) diphthongs, which I’ve chosen to include, are represented in the same manner ⟨Vr⟩, I have opted to include the long vowel variants as well.
  • There are other diphthongs present in the language (e.g. /aj/); however, it isn’t definitive when/if they are interpreted as vowel-glide sequences or complex phonemes. I have listed them all below, but only include the bold ones in the rules.
  • Carpooran (2011) also lists /i/ as having a long variant, although represented by ⟨ii⟩ rather than ⟨ir⟩ (p. 25). Baker and Kriegel (2019) do include the diphthong /ij/ in their analysis (represented as ⟨iy⟩) (p. 252), which may be synonymous with the long variant found in Carpooran (2011), but there is too great a lack of consensus to be sure. I have ultimately chosen not to include it.

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e ẽ		o õ
Low		a ã
Note: For phonemes that share a cell, those on the left are non-nasal, whereas those on the right are nasal.

Diphthongs
/ij/, /ej/, /aj/, /oj/, /uj/, /iw/, /ew/, /aw/, /iə/, /eə/, /uə/

Alphabet

• The Morisyen alphabet seems to lack a level of standardization, such that the written language may reflect several different conventions (e.g. from French, English, Haitian Creole), which drastically affects the accuracy of transcription. Thus, the language is compromised. The alphabet below primarily reflects that which is documented in Carpooran (2011) (pp. 36-39).
• ⟨x⟩ represents both /ks/ and /ɡz/ (Carpooran 2011, 25). I have defaulted to /ks/ in the rules. It is unclear whether instances of /ɡz/ may actually be phonetic realizations of a voicing process rather than underlying. Nevertheless, the language is still compromised.
• Carpooran (2011) lists ⟨gn⟩ as representing /ɲ/ (p. 39). However, Baker and Kriegel (2019) also list ⟨ny⟩ (p. 253). I have opted to include both.
• In addition to ⟨j⟩, Carpooran (2011) also identifies the digraph ⟨di⟩ as representing /dʒ/ (p. 28). However, instances of this most likely reflect palatalization (see Misc. Rules), so I have opted not to include it.
• Despite recent orthographic reform, /u/ is still frequently represented by the digraph ⟨ou⟩ (in addition to ⟨u⟩) (Carpooran 2011, 29).
• Carpooran (2011) includes ⟨sh⟩ as representing the phoneme /ʃ/ (p. 26). However, Morisyen lacks this phoneme, often adapted from French loanwords to /s/. This loanword digraph is accounted for accordingly in the rules (i.e. it’s transcribed out).
• To represent /Vn/ sequences, as opposed to nasal vowels, the vowel is followed by ⟨nn⟩ (Carpooran 2011, 38). Although /i/ and /u/ don’t have nasal counterparts, instances of /in/ and /un/ are also written with the form ⟨Vnn⟩.

Grapheme	Phoneme	Comment
a	/a/
b	/b/
d	/d̪/
e	/e/
f	/f/
g	/ɡ/
h	/h/
i	/i/
j	/dʒ/
k	/k/
l	/l/
m	/m/
n	/n/
o	/o/
p	/p/
r	/ɣ/
s	/s/
t	/t̪/
u	/u/
v	/v/
w	/w/
x	/ks/; /ɡz/	/ks/: default in the rules; also written ⟨xs⟩
y	/j/
z	/z/
Digraph
ch	/tʃ/
ng	/ŋ/
ny	/ɲ/
gn	/ɲ/
an	/ã/
ar	/aː/	word-finally or preceding a consonant
en	/ẽ/
er	/eə/	word-finally or preceding a consonant
ir	/iə/	word-finally or preceding a consonant
on	/õ/
or	/oː/	word-finally or preceding a consonant
ur	/uə/	word-finally or preceding a consonant
ou	/u/	holdover from past orthographies that is still commonly found

Syllable Structure

• Syllables in generally all creole languages have been understood to follow a CV structure (Klein 2013, 226). However, other syllable structures (e.g. CCV, V, CVC) have been attested. Klein (2013) explains that due to the process of becoming lexically specified creoles with the restructuring of words, much divergence has occurred from what was previously understood.
  • Klein (2013) lists Morisyen as having the syllable structure (C)(C)V(C)(C) (p. 234).
  • Because syllables in Morisyen can be quite complex, this provides even more speculation around the listed transcription, especially when it comes to complex phonemes and consonant clusters (i.e. it is unclear if a digraph listed above always represents one phoneme or two).

Lenition Rules

• /h/ is frequently elided (Baker and Kriegel 2019, 253).

Misc. Rules

• /t̪/ and /d̪/ both undergo palatalization or light affrication before /i/ and /j/ (Baker and Kriegel 2019, 253).
• /e/ tends to be realized as [ɛ] in closed syllables and [e] in open syllables. Likewise, /o/ is realized as [ɔ] in closed syllables and [o] in open syllables (Baker and Kriegel 2019, 252).
• Nasal /ẽ/ and /õ/ tend to be realized as [ɛ̃]. /ã/ tends to be realized as [ɑ̃] (ibid.).

References

Baker, Philip, and Sibylle Kriegel. 2019. “Maritian Creole.” The Survey of Pidgin and Creole Languages 2: 250–60.

Carpooran, Arnaud. 2011. Lortograf Kreol Morisien. Phoenix, Mauritius: Akademi Kreol Morisien.

Klein, Thomas B. 2013. “Creole Languages and Linguistic Typology.” In, edited by Parth Bhatt and Veenstra Tonjes, 207–44. John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://www.ebook.de/de/product/24159819/creole_languages_and_linguistic_typology.html.

Strandquist, Rachel Eva. 2003. “Article Incorporation in Mauritian Creole.” Master’s thesis, University of Victoria.