First Mauritian Creole Pocket Dictionary launched

The first edition of the Mauritian Creole Pocket Dictionary was launched today in Réduit, through a collaboration between the Ministry of Education and Human Resource, the Creole Speaking Union and the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of the University of Mauritius (UoM).

Developed in response to growing demand from students, teachers and parents for a practical and accessible reference tool, the pocket dictionary spans over 800 pages and features definitions of some 20,000 words, along with a dedicated section on Mauritian Creole proverbs.

Various eminent personalities were present at the launching ceremony namely the Minister of Education and Human Resource, Dr Mahend Gungapersad; the Vice-Chancellor of the UoM, Prof. Kavi Kumar Khedo; and the Chairman of the Creole Speaking Union and author of the pocket dictionary, Prof. Arnaud Carpooran.

In his address, the Minister of Education underlined that the pocket dictionary was another concrete step towards promoting the national language and thanked all stakeholders who had contributed to this achievement. He recalled the importance of language not only as part of an individual's identity and soul, but also as an integral part of history and culture.

Dr Gungapersad paid tribute to the pioneers who contributed to the official and academic recognition of Mauritian Creole, among whom the former president of the Akademi Kreol Morisien, Prof. Vinesh Y. Hookoomsing; the linguist, playwright, novelist and poet, late Narendraj Virah Sawmy; and Prof. Carpooran.

According to the Minister, it was critical to move beyond the notion that a particular language belongs exclusively to a particular group. He stressed the importance of the mother tongue, particularly in relation to code-switching and the linguistic environment in which children are required to learn English and French. Dr Gungapersad also referred to ongoing discussions with Cambridge regarding the introduction of Mauritian Creole as a main subject at Higher School Certificate level.

For his part, the Vice-Chancellor highlighted the University's role in advancing Creole studies and supporting the introduction of Mauritian Creole in primary and secondary schools, in collaboration with institutions such as the Mauritius Institute of Education and the Mauritius Examinations Syndicate.

Moreover, Prof. Khedoo talked on the way forward in the inter-institutional efforts to facilitate the use of Mauritian Creole in the National Assembly. He referred as well to the technical work being undertaken by an interdisciplinary team to develop a spell-checker and speech-to-text software for Mauritian Creole.

As for Prof. Carpooran, he recalled the progress made by Mauritian Creole, from its formal recognition to its introduction and teaching in schools. He further stressed the need to establish an Academy for Mauritian Creole, to guide the development of its orthography, grammar, lexicon, usage and linguistic norms, and further consolidate its status as a national standard language of the Republic of Mauritius.

During the launching ceremony, teachers who successfully completed a Professional Development Programme in Mauritian Creole, organised by the UoM, were also awarded certificates.

The launch was followed by a capacity-building workshop for secondary school teachers of Mauritian Creole, focusing on the updated and revised version of the Rapor Lortograf Kreol Repiblik Moris—the Report on Spelling and Grammatical Rules of the Creole Language of the Republic of Mauritius—first published in 2011.

The revised Report updates key linguistic aspects following the introduction of Mauritian Creole in primary and secondary schools and its assessment at the Primary School Achievement Certificate, National Certificate of Education and School Certificate levels.

It also examines how the standardised version introduced in 2011 has shaped the use of Mauritian Creole across the academic, institutional and media landscapes, and how its wider use and growing awareness have, in turn, contributed to the language’s development.

25 August 2026

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Topics: Education