My target culture is looking at francophone countries in the Caribbean and how they interact with other various indigenous and creole-related languages. My target countries are Martinique and Guadeloupe. Even though my language partner is Sara from Morocco, she made a comment about the fact that everyone there is bilingual. I want to know if this is the case for people living in Caribbean franco-countries. When do people choose to speak French? Are there certain parts of the country that primarily speak other languages? I think that a good way to strengthen my questions about Caribbean franco-countries is using a sociolinguistic framework. There are definitely some linguistic terms that I incorporate in some of the questions that I am asking as well as proving explanations to my questions. My questions specifically look at social contexts and how sociocultural rules play in the use of the French language. Do people speak French in formal settings like the workplace, rituals (parties, events), etc.? Are there languages that conflict with French in Guadeloupe and Martinique?
These ideas are not currently included in my language learning plan. As of now I just specified that I wanted to work with someone of Caribbean or African descent. Because I identified Sara, I want to branch out of Morocco and look at another case. I can however draw some connections between Morocco and Guadeloupe/Martinique in terms of bilingualism. I can predict that there will be some parallels. I think that something I will add to my language learning plan is a piece about sociolinguistic competence. Cultural references and figures of speech are important in trying to breakdown where/when French is used in Guadeloupe and Martinique. My end goal with this research is to uncover how much I may potentially use French when traveling to these countries in the near future. They have always been on my bucket list as a place to visit. It would be interesting to see how I would play a role in picking up on these cultural references as an outsider.
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