Dr. Priscille Ahtoy — Sociolinguist

Interculturality
isn't something I teach.
I've lived it.

PARINGALANG combines rigorous social sciences research with grounded intercultural experience — from Mauritius to Canada, the United Kingdom to France. Consulting, training and research-action for organisations that genuinely want to change.

4 Countries lived in
3 Continents
15+ Years on the field
Founder · Director
Dr Priscille Ahtoy, sociolinguist

Priscille
Ahtoy

Doctorate in Language Sciences · DYNADIV · Univ. of Tours

↳ Affiliations & networks
DYNADIV Lab · Univ. of Tours LAAB · UVSQ Paris-Saclay Guest Editor · Elsevier (Ethics, Medicine and Public Health) Council of the Francophone Sociolinguistics Network (RFS)

01 — Lived interculturality

Theory without fieldwork
is just illusion.

Many talk about interculturality. Few have inhabited it. I grew up in Mauritius, in a plurilingual daily life where Mauritian Creole, French, English, Hindi, Tamil, Hakka, Telugu and other languages coexist. I taught at North American universities, trained executives in international banks, directed the training centre at the French Institute of Mauritius, and contributed to British cultural life. Each of these anchorings taught me what no textbook says: diversity isn't decreed, it's practiced.

Mauritius

Indian Ocean

Birth and schooling in a plurilingual, pluricultural society. Teaching at the Mauritius Institute of Education, the Open University of Mauritius and the University of Mauritius, in International Baccalaureate schools and within the AEFE network (Agency for French Education Abroad). Director of the training centre at the French Institute of Mauritius.

Origins · 2015 — 2018

Canada

North America

Teaching at the University of Western Ontario and Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada. French language didactics, immersion in bilingual and multicultural Canada.

Multiple years

United Kingdom

Europe

Several long stays and cultural engagement in Gloucester through the Cheltenham Trust Fund and at the Playhouse Theatre. Immersion in British cultural and associative networks.

Multiple stays

France

Europe

Research lecturer at DYNADIV Lab, University of Tours. Head of the APPRODIV Master's programme. Associate researcher at LAAB (UVSQ Paris-Saclay). Founder of PARINGALANG.

Today
"

My journey is not a collection of countries on a CV. It is an intimate sociolinguistics: what it actually feels like to juggle between codes, accents, gazes, misunderstandings. That is the experience I bring to every intervention.

02 — Expertise

A quadruple identity, one common thread:
language as a tool for emancipation.

Researcher

PhD in Language Sciences (Tours, 2021). Linguistic insecurity, plurilingualism, Indian Ocean francophonies, linguistic discrimination, power relations and domination.

Sociolinguistics Plurilingualism Glottophobia

Lecturer

From kindergarten to university, across three continents. Head of the APPRODIV Master's programme at the University of Tours. AEFE network, IB Schools, universities in Canada, Mauritius and France.

University APPRODIV Master's FFL

Trainer

Interventions in companies, hospitality, banks, language schools — Four Seasons, Sheraton, Orange, Crédit Agricole, Barclays, Bank of India. Intercultural management and mental health impact.

Intercultural Discrimination

Science populariser

Speaker on podcasts, radio, scientific conferences, public festivals (Pint of Science Tours), exhibitions and educational events in school districts.

Pint of Science Radio Campus MSH Val de Loire

Equality officer

Equality officer (Faculty of Letters & Languages, Univ. of Tours). "Entrepreneurial spirit" referent at PEPITE Centre-Val de Loire. Member of the DELF/DALF jury.

Equality Entrepreneurship

Event organiser

Elected member of the Council of the Francophone Sociolinguistics Network (RFS). Member of the organising committee of DYNADIV conferences and of Pint of Science Tours.

RFS DYNADIV Event design

03 — Outreach & interventions

Two stages,
one same conviction.

Academic conferences are where we think, debate and move the field forward. Public events are where we reach people, share knowledge, give meaning. I move from one to the other — sometimes in the same week — because both matter equally.

Jun-Jul 2026

Whom do words belong to? Conflicts of usage and symbolic struggles

International symposium · Sorbonne Université, Paris · 29 June - 1 July 2026 · COLIBEX Chair (France-Québec, CNRS-FRQ) & REV Project

↗ Call for papers · COLIBEX Chair
Sorbonne Université International Free Speech
Symposium
Jun 2026

UNDETERRED Symposium — Horizon Europe

University of Bordeaux · 23 June 2026 · European Horizon Europe project on unintentional discrimination (consortium of Amsterdam, Utrecht, Barcelona, Bordeaux, Bucharest, Lausanne, Laval-Quebec)

↗ UNDETERRED project
Horizon Europe Discrimination Bordeaux
European symposium
2026 (forthcoming)

Social, political and media invisibilities: desired, undesired, undesirable

Interdisciplinary symposium · MSH Paris · Organised by GERIICO (University of Lille) and MNHN (Joëlle Le Marec)

↗ Call for papers · GERIICO
MSH Paris Invisibilities Interdisciplinary
Symposium
Oct 2025

Speaking from the margins: reflexivity and situated knowledge in sociolinguistics

Interdisciplinary symposium "Situated knowledge: how to position oneself?" · CHCSC, UVSQ Paris-Saclay · Bidarray (Basque Country) · 30-31 October 2025

↗ Symposium programme · CHCSC
Situated knowledge Reflexivity UVSQ Paris-Saclay
Paper
Jul. 2025

Burnout among language teachers: between precariousness, contradictory injunctions and identity reconstruction through narration

Symposium "Burnout through the prism of interdisciplinarity" · MSH Val de Loire

↗ DOI: 10.60527/tq0d-pj30 · Canal-U video
Conference Interdisciplinary Mental health
Video
Mar. 2023

Linguistic diversity, plural identities and linguistic insecurity in Mauritius

Co-presented with Guillaume Cingal · MSH/DYNADIV conference with Mariam Sheik Fareed, University of Tours

↗ DYNADIV page
Paper DYNADIV Mauritius
Paper
Dec. 2022

Can sociolinguistics serve to "denaturalise" predominant ideologies within society?

5th RFS Congress "Sociolinguistics — what is it for?" · Aix-Marseille University · 13-16 December 2022

↗ Abstracts booklet (PDF)
RFS Congress Aix-Marseille
Paper
Nov. 2022

From classroom to language policy: observations and reflections from IB school experiences (Mauritius)

International Symposium "Didactics, plurilingualism, globalisation" · University of Aveiro, Portugal · 16-18 November 2022

International Portugal Language policy
Paper
Nov. 2021

Evolution of French teaching/learning in Mauritius over the past half-century

Centenary Symposium of the Sorbonne French Civilisation Courses · Sorbonne Université, Paris

Sorbonne Centenary
Paper
Sep. 2018

Approaches to the plurality of French spoken in Mauritius: toward what convergence of usage and teaching practices?

"50 years Lame dan lame" symposium · University of Mauritius, Réduit, Mauritius

↗ HAL: hal-03164065
HAL Mauritius
Paper
Mar. 2025

I LOVE MES CHEVEUX — Linguistic insecurity and plurilingualism

Radio Campus Tours · 99.5 FM · Broadcast 10 March 2025

↗ Listen to podcast (MP3)
Radio Campus Plurilingualism
Radio
Nov. 2024

Webinar "Languages and inclusivity"

Smart Base RH · Online webinar exploring the links between language and inclusivity through three key themes

↗ Watch webinar (YouTube)
Webinar Inclusivity HR
Webinar
Sep. 2024

Ondes Actives: Priscille Ahtoy, Founder & Director of PARINGALANG

RCF Touraine · Broadcast 18 September 2024 · With Ahmed Rouis-Bouabdallah (Tours Junior Chamber of Commerce)

↗ Listen on RCF
RCF Entrepreneurship Diversity
Radio
Jun. 2023

Ondes Actives: Linguistic insecurity on air

RCF Touraine · Broadcast 14 June 2023 · Presentation of research work

↗ Listen on RCF
RCF Research
Radio
2024-2026

Pint of Science Tours — Organiser & speaker

International science popularisation festival · Member of the Tours organising team

↗ Pint of Science Tours team
Festival Organising Tours
Festival
Nov. 2023

Plurilingualism helps delay Alzheimer's disease

Interview with Français à l'étranger · Public article on the "bilingual brain"

↗ Read article
Press Plurilingualism
Press
2023

La Méridienne — Languages in Mauritius

Radio Campus Tours · Special broadcast in partnership with MSH Val de Loire

↗ Listen to podcast (MP3)
Radio Campus MSH Mauritius
Radio
Apr. 2024

Paths of Equality and Diversity 2024 — Lecture on glottophobia

Orléans-Tours School District · Grandmont High School · "Understanding language-based discrimination"

↗ Event programme
School district Glottophobia Public
Lecture
2023

Echos Sciences Centre-Val de Loire

Cross-referenced and distributed on the regional scientific culture platform

↗ View resource
Echos Sciences Centre Region
Platform
2024-2025

"Les Expertes" Directory — France & Francophonie

Listed as an expert solicited by the media on linguistic diversity, intercultural management and discrimination

↗ Expertes profile
Expertes France Media
Media directory

04 — Career path

Trajectories that interweave,
not a straight line.

2020 — Today

PARINGALANG — Founder & Director

Tours · France

Consulting, training and research-action in applied sociolinguistics. Interventions in companies, local authorities and educational institutions.

Present

Research lecturer · Head of APPRODIV Master's

DYNADIV (EA 4428) · University of Tours

SODILANG Department. Research: linguistic insecurity, glottophobia, plural francophonies, teacher training. Associate researcher at LAAB (UVSQ Paris-Saclay).

2021

PhD in Language Sciences

University of Tours

Thesis defended November 2021: "Linguistic insecurity in French in a plurilingual setting (Mauritius): social mobilities and conflicts of legitimacy" · Supervisor: Didier de Robillard (Tours) · Co-supervisor: Arnaud Carpooran.

2015 — 2018

Director of the training centre

French Institute of Mauritius

Pedagogical and strategic management of language and intercultural training, international partnerships.

Prior

University teaching

Mauritius · Canada · France

Mauritius Institute of Education, Open University of Mauritius, University of Western Ontario, Memorial University of Newfoundland. French as a foreign language teaching and didactics.

Prior

Early pluri-territorial experience

Mauritius · UK · France

AEFE network, IB Schools, corporate training (Four Seasons, Sheraton, Orange, Crédit Agricole, Barclays, Bank of India), cultural engagement Cheltenham Trust Fund.

05 — Publications

Published work, shared ideas.

May 2024

Special Issue "Equity and Health" — Ethics, Medicine and Public Health

Guest Editor with Prof. Philippe Charlier (AP-HP & UVSQ/Paris-Saclay) · Elsevier journal · Special issue published on 7 May 2024 on social determinants of health, discrimination and health equity

↗ View the special issue on ScienceDirect
Elsevier Guest Editor Public Health Interdisciplinary
Editorial
2025

La Belle au bois volant

Co-authored with Amarnath Hosany and Katty Laguette Labour · Éditions de l'Océan Indien · Children's literature

↗ La Réunion des Livres
Book Children's Co-authored
Book
2021

Linguistic insecurity in French in a plurilingual setting (Mauritius): social mobilities and conflicts of legitimacy

PhD thesis · University of Tours · Supervisor: Didier de Robillard, co-supervisor: Arnaud Carpooran · Defended November 2021

↗ IdRef record · ABES
Thesis PhD
Thesis
2018

Approaches to the plurality of French spoken in Mauritius: toward what convergence of usage and teaching practices?

Paper at the "50 years Lame dan lame" symposium · Réduit, Mauritius · HAL open archive

↗ HAL: hal-03164065
HAL Open Access
Paper

Non-exhaustive list available: Please consult the academic portals linked in the footer (HAL, IdRef, Canal-U, University of Tours).

06 — Our services

Raise awareness, train, support.

01

Raise awareness

Understanding · Analysis · Diagnosis

Becoming aware of biases, frozen social representations and mechanisms behind discrimination. Understanding, analysing, diagnosing in order to propose tailored solutions.

02

Train

Training · Sharing · Interaction

Evolving everyday practices. Decoding insidious discriminatory behaviour. Taking internal tools, communication tools and life narratives into account for greater inclusion.

03

Support

Assessment · Evaluation · Recommendations

Ensuring effective implementation: reflective approach based on lived experience feedback, medium- to long-term recommendations. Making diversity a lever for performance and creativity.

A world where human diversity is respected a little more each day, where every person can express themselves in the language of their choice… is a world that progresses, that rises. — Amin Maalouf, The Imbalance of Our World

— Let's work together

A question, a project,
a conversation?

PARINGALANG operates in France and abroad, in French- and English-speaking contexts. First exchange always free to understand your needs.