Réunionese Creole and Scots came from specific social contexts: settlement colony and burgh (charter towns). This paper discusses the major similarities and differences between the developments of these languages as well as the role played by the government, both local and state, and the conflicts which ensue. Notions such as diglossia (Ferguson 1959 is best-known, but usage of the notion in the literature is better summarised by Lüdi 1989), homestead phase (Chaudenson) and ‘Frankish revolut