Language maintenance, language substitution and language loss: The case of Tamil diaspora in the French islands.
Résumé
In this paper, I will try to present an overview of the Tamil diasporic communities of the French islands (Guadeloupe, Martinique and La Réunion) and the functions of the Tamil language. The communities of Tamil descent of these French islands migrated from South India some 150 years ago under the colonial powers. These islands are basically multilingual and multicultural. French is the official language whereas, French-lexified creoles are used as vernacular and medium of every day communication. The Tamil diasporic communities are part of such a complex sociolinguistic context. Isolated from their land of origin for more than a century, the Tamil diasporic communities reflect the intricate relation between identity construction and retention of ancestral language and culture. In this paper I will discuss about 1) Social dimensions of language use and the substitution of Tamil, 2) The emergence of Tamil as a “sacred language”, 3) Weakening of traditional Tamil rituals in the context of Brahmanic Hindu religious globalisation, and 4) The process of cultural and linguistic re-appropriation by the Tamil diasporic communities.