Language and colonialism: Applied linguistics in the context of creole communities

The literature on colonialism tends to focus on Europe’s economic exploitation of many regions and peoples around the world and Europeans’ use of excessive force towards the latter. While these issues are undoubtedly of great importance, it is equally important to understand the cultural and specifically the linguistic and discursive practices that came to be associated with European colonial rule. These practices played an instrumental role in assigning low prestige to non-European languages and cultures, including cultural and linguistic forms that emerged due to Europe’s colonial expansion, and in establishing the superiority of the coloniser’s language and culture .