Language policy in French Guiana, native imaginaries and multilingualism

International audienceI address the role of nativeness in the representations of linguistic diversity and multilingualism, both at the level of expert’s discourse, policy making and of its implementation. I focus on the case of French Guiana, a French overseas territory, where multilingualism is widespread. French Guiana is thought of as a mosaic of linguistic and cultural communities. I examine the introduction of minority languages in the French Guianese educational system and show that they are paradoxically the product of a monolingual perspective. I show the mismatch between the actual multilingual practices and the monolingual model of society involved in the educational policies. I then examine the linguistic landscape and communication in a hospital in Western French Guiana where no explicit language policy in favor of minority languages applies. I will show how such an absence of institutionalization reveals colonial models and open spaces for racialized social relations. I conclude on how language policies in these two domains connected to native imaginaries, multilingualism and regimentations, lead to the reproduction of social stratifications and embedded hierarchies and to the reinforcement of inequalities