Mauritian Creole
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Brian Jongseong Park was recently in Berlin and got to see an art show featuring works from Berlin-based Mauritian artist Djuneid Dulloo, who is a friend of Brian's from school. One work that caught Brian's eye was "Ras Lavi", which is covered in examples of Mauritian Creole:
Brian asked Djuneid about the work, and he explained in detail the meanings of various phrases on the painting. Djuneid had previously titled his paintings in Mauritian Creole, but this was the first time he put examples of Mauritian Creole in the artwork itself, and the response from the Mauritian community has been positive, he says, because Mauritians are not always used to seeing their language in writing.
Knowing French, Brian found that he could guess at the meanings of several of the phrases that appear on "Ras Lavi". For instance, "mo pa blan / mo pa nwar / mo blé" means "I am not white / I am not black / I am blue". Brian doesn't recall the exact meaning of the Mauritian Creole expression "ras lavi", though he remembers that the literal meaning is something like "tear life". Perhaps Language Log readers could help figure out what it really implies.
Coby Lubliner said,
October 6, 2015 @ 12:19 am
Arrache la vie?
Laura Morland said,
October 6, 2015 @ 2:41 am
I haven't figure it out yet, but here's an example of the phrase in context:
"Si letan mo pe naze Belle Mare. geyn enn alert tsunami, eski mo pu capav ras lavi ?"
I'm really not good at this sort of thing, but the last part of the phrase could be something like "Est-ce que moi peux capable d'arracher la vie ?"
http://answers.cleverdodo.mu/cr/si-letan-mo-pe-naze-belle-mare-geyn-enn-alert-tsunami-eski-mo-pu-capav-ras-lavi/10133
P:S: Coby Lubliner is correct: rase (ras) [from Fre arracher] : to tear out; to cut off; to take away. http://www.lexilogos.com/creole_mauricien_dictionnaire.htm
Laura Morland said,
October 6, 2015 @ 2:47 am
Another postscript:
1. I obviously meant to write "figured it out" above. (How I wish it were possible to edit our posts here on LL!)
2. Notice the "dodo" — both in Djun de Lou's painting and in my first link.
JB said,
October 6, 2015 @ 2:53 am
"Ras" as in "ras le bol"
Jongseong Park said,
October 6, 2015 @ 4:44 am
Thanks, Victor, for sharing this with the Language Log audience.
I think Coby Lubiner's guess is right. Mauritian Creole depalatalizes French /ʃ/ to /s/, and often fuses the French definite article with the noun it modifies. Mauritian Creole is written without silent letters.
Another example of the depalatalization of /ʃ/ to /s/ is "ki to pu fer kan to l'am sapé", which if I remember correctly is something like "what can you do when your soul escapes", where sapé corresponds to French échapper.
Laura Morland said,
October 6, 2015 @ 4:48 am
@JB @Jongseong Park —
I guess I was too prolix, for neither of you seemed to see my postscript:
P:S: Coby Lubliner is correct: rase (ras) [from Fre arracher] : to tear out; to cut off; to take away. See: http://www.lexilogos.com/creole_mauricien_dictionnaire.htm
Jongseong Park said,
October 6, 2015 @ 4:54 am
@Laura Morland, I still don't see your original post and postscript, only what you add on as "another postscript". Maybe you had a comment that disappeared?
Laura Morland said,
October 6, 2015 @ 5:05 am
@Jongseong Park — strange, as I can see my comment! But perhaps LL blocked my post because it contained two links? Here's the first part of what I wrote:
I haven't figured it out yet, but here's an example of the phrase in context:
"Si letan mo pe naze Belle Mare. geyn enn alert tsunami, eski mo pu capav ras lavi ?"
I'm really not good at this sort of thing, but the last part of the phrase could be something like "Est-ce que moi, [je] peux capable d'arracher la vie ?"
http://answers.cleverdodo.mu/cr/si-letan-mo-pe-naze-belle-mare-geyn-enn-alert-tsunami-eski-mo-pu-capav-ras-lavi/10133
And then in the second part I gave the link to Lexilogos' Mauritian dictionary, which confirms "ras" < "arracher".
Thanks for telling us that the creole "depalatalizes French /ʃ/ to /s/, and often fuses the French definite article with the noun it modifies… [and] is written without silent letters." That is very hepful to know.
champacs said,
October 6, 2015 @ 5:31 am
I don't know if it's the meaning for the title of this painting, but the normal meaning of "'ras lavi" is "go away" as in when you're annoyed at someone and want them to leave.
(I live on neighbouring Reunion Island, where another Creole is spoken. There are some similarities between the two Creoles but as far as I'm aware "ras lavi" isn't used in Reunion Creole).
champacs said,
October 6, 2015 @ 5:49 am
Etymology:
As others have said "ras"= "arracher" which here means "get rid of/get out"
"lavi" = "la vie" = "life" so "get out of my life"
Christian Saunders said,
October 6, 2015 @ 5:55 am
I emailed my Mauritian friend and she responded: "get lost".
champacs said,
October 6, 2015 @ 5:58 am
@Christian
Exactly! ;-)
Raya said,
October 6, 2015 @ 6:32 am
Mauritian here (a cousin of Djuneid, in fact).
I would translate:
"Si letan mo pe naze Belle Mare. geyn enn alert tsunami, eski mo pu capav ras lavi ?"
something like:
"Suppose [one] time I am swimming in Belle Mare. [Then we] get a tsunami alert; would I be able to get out?"
According to my mother, "ras lavi" has more to it than "go away". She called it an "extremely negative" expression, and wondered whether in this context it was referencing the traumatic aspects of the fact that a great deal of the Mauritian population has ancestors uprooted from elsewhere (largely through slavery and indentured labour).
Jongseong Park said,
October 6, 2015 @ 7:10 am
@champacs, @Christian Saunders: Yes, that was indeed the meaning that was intended as the title of this piece! For some background, this piece alludes to an ongoing controversy about the development of La Cambuse Beach, where a hotel group is planning constructions.
@Laura Morland: Now I see your first post. Maybe it was some weird caching behaviour from my browser. Anyway, depalatalization also leads to /ʒ/ → /z/, so "naze" corresponds to French "nager" in the following:
"Si letan mo pe naze Belle Mare. geyn enn alert tsunami, eski mo pu capav ras lavi ?"
This could be something like "If (at) the time I can swim (in) Belle Mare we get a tsunami alert, will I able to get the hell out of there?" I'm not sure about the first part, but "letan" corresponds to French "le temps" and "geyn" might be a variant of "gayn", which means "to get" or "to earn" and comes from French "gagne".
Jongseong Park said,
October 6, 2015 @ 7:11 am
@Raya, thanks for the translation. I didn't see your comment before I put up my attempt as a non-speaker.
Keith said,
October 7, 2015 @ 9:19 am
"Ras" < "arracher" for "rip, tear" and by extension "escape, move away" has a parallel in modern European French, too. It appears in Renaud's song "Marche à l'ombre".
Avant qu'il ait pu dire un mot,
j'ai chopé l'mec par l'paletot
et j'ui ai dit : Toi tu m'fous les glandes,
pi t'as rien à foutre dans mon monde,
arrache-toi d'là, t'es pas d'ma bande
casse-toi, tu pues, et marche à l'ombre !
Here, "arrache-toi d'là" means "clear off, get lost".
J. W. Brewer said,
October 7, 2015 @ 3:56 pm
Almost two decades ago I was elsewhere in the Indian Ocean visiting the Seychelles, which have their own French-based creole. I'm not sure how mutually comprehensible Seselwa and its Mauritian cousin are, but I went to a service at the Anglican cathedral (which in colonial days was merely an outpost of a Mauritius-based diocese) conducted largely in Seselwa. Some intrepid person has now helpfully posted some of the Seselwa liturgical texts here: http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Seychelles/index.html. Note the similar tendency (I don't know how much this is just the orthography versus something different in actual speech) to treat what would be written as two words in French as one word in the creole, e.g. "Lasent" instead of "La Sainte" and "Bondye" instead of "Bon Dieu."
Laura Morland said,
October 7, 2015 @ 4:21 pm
@J.W. Brewer – Thanks for this link! I find it adorable that (in literal English) that:
"le Père" = "Good God Grandaddy", and
"le Fils" = "Good God Boy".
This nomenclature displays a wonderful intimacy with the first two member of the Trinity.
"Bondye-Papa,
Pran pitye, pardonn nou.
Bondye-Garson,
Pran pitye, pardonn nou.
Bondye-Sent-Espri…."
Jongseong Park said,
October 7, 2015 @ 7:41 pm
@J. W. Brewer: Note the similar tendency (I don't know how much this is just the orthography versus something different in actual speech) to treat what would be written as two words in French as one word in the creole, e.g. "Lasent" instead of "La Sainte" and "Bondye" instead of "Bon Dieu."
When the original article in French is fused with the noun it modifies to produce the Mauritian Creole word, my understanding is that the result is indivisible—the original noun part does not occur on its own, and articles as they are used in French are not part of the language.
Another example from the painting above is "leker krab", which means "crab heart" ("leker" from French "le cœur", "krab" from French "crabe"). You never see "*ker" on its own. Even "my heart", which would be "mon cœur" in French, is "mo leker" in Mauritian Creole.