Mauritian Creole - Phonology and Orthography

Phonology and Orthography

The phonology of Mauritian Creole is very similar to that of French. However, the French "ch" and "j"/soft "g" are pronounced like "s" and "z" respectively in Mauritian, and the French rounded front vowels "u" and "eu" are realized as "i" and "e" respectively.

Though the language has as yet no official standard orthography, it does have several published dictionaries, both monolingual and bilingual, written by authors such as Philip Baker, the group "Ledikasyon pu travayer," and Arnaud Carpooran, among others. The number of publications in creole is increasing steadily, and an unofficial standard orthography is emerging. This system generally follows French, but eliminates silent letters and reduces the number of different ways in which the same sound can be written.

In 2005, Professor Vinesh Hookoomsing of the University of Mauritius published the report "Grafi Larmoni" which seeks to harmonize the different ways of writing Mauritian Creole in Mauritius.