There are considerable variations in vocabulary and grammar in various parts of Papua New Guinea, with distinct dialects in the New Guinea Highlands, the north coast of Papua New Guinea, and islands outside of New Guinea. While English is the main language in the education system, some schools use Tok Pisin in the first three years of elementary education to promote early literacy. Most government documents are produced in English, but public information campaigns are often partially or entirely in Tok Pisin. It is frequently the language of debate in the national parliament. The flourishing of the mainly English-based Tok Pisin in German New Guinea (despite the language of the metropolitan power being German) is to be contrasted with Hiri Motu, the lingua franca of Papua, which was derived not from English but from Motu, the vernacular of the indigenous people of the Port Moresby area.Īlong with English and Hiri Motu, Tok Pisin is one of the three official languages of Papua New Guinea. Tok Pisin and the closely related Bislama in Vanuatu and Pijin in the Solomon Islands, which developed in parallel, have traditionally been treated as varieties of a single Melanesian Pidgin English or "Neo-Melanesian" language. It became a widely used lingua franca and language of interaction between rulers and ruled, and among the ruled themselves who did not share a common vernacular. This English-based pidgin evolved into Tok Pisin in German New Guinea (where the German-based creole Unserdeutsch was also spoken). The labourers began to develop a pidgin, drawing vocabulary primarily from English, but also from German, Malay, Portuguese and their own Austronesian languages (perhaps especially Kuanua, that of the Tolai people of East New Britain). The Tok Pisin language is a result of Pacific Islanders intermixing, when people speaking numerous different languages were sent to work on plantations in Queensland and various islands (see South Sea Islander and blackbirding). As such, it is considered a creole in linguistic terminology. Tok Pisin is not a pidgin in the latter sense, since it has become a first language for many people (rather than simply a lingua franca to facilitate communication with speakers of other languages). This usage of "Pidgin" differs from the term " pidgin" as used in linguistics. Papua New Guinean anglophones often refer to Tok Pisin as "Pidgin" when speaking English. While Tok Pisin's name in the language is Tok Pisin, it is also called "New Guinea Pidgin" in English. Pisin derives from the English word ' pidgin' the latter, in turn, may originate in the word business, which is descriptive of the typical development and use of pidgins as inter-ethnic trade languages. Tok is derived from English "talk", but has a wider application, also meaning "word", "speech", or "language". Hotel room door signs in Papua New Guinea Tok Pisin is slowly "crowding out" other languages of Papua New Guinea. Perhaps one million people now use Tok Pisin as a primary language. Over the decades, Tok Pisin has increasingly overtaken Hiri Motu as the dominant lingua franca among town-dwellers. Urban families in particular, and those of police and defence force members, often communicate among themselves in Tok Pisin, either never gaining fluency in a local language ( tok ples) or learning a local language as a second (or third) language, after Tok Pisin (and possibly English). Many now learn it as a first language, in particular the children of parents or grandparents who originally spoke different languages (for example, a mother from Madang and a father from Rabaul). However, in parts of the southern provinces of Western, Gulf, Central, Oro, and Milne Bay, the use of Tok Pisin has a shorter history and is less universal, especially among older people.īetween five and six million people use Tok Pisin to some degree, although not all speak it fluently. It is an official language of Papua New Guinea and the most widely used language in the country. Tok Pisin ( English: / t ɒ k ˈ p ɪ s ɪ n/, / t ɔː k, - z ɪ n/ Tok Pisin ), often referred to by English speakers as New Guinea Pidgin or simply Pidgin, is a creole language spoken throughout Papua New Guinea.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |