A standardised Tok Pisin version for all in the Pacific

[BURTON John]

Mesulam na ol
 
Good luck mate! Where I am now, we (mix PNG families) must take great care
not to be overheard speaking Tok Pisin by islanders. If we are, it causes a
degree of offence. The problem is that the bulk of the 5,000 or so people
(no more than that) people who use TSC regularly honestly believe that Papua
New Guinea consists of a few villages inland of Daru, and that none of them
speak Creole properly, or anything that resembles it.
 
I had an argument about this on Murray Island that turned quite nasty.
Mesulam - I needed you to explain that there are 5 million Tok Pisin
speakers - but you weren't there and I lost.
 
John Burton

 -----Original Message-----
From: Mesulam Aisoli [mailto:mva at lihir.com.pg]
Sent: Saturday, 27 July 2002 11:33 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: RE: Comments on Pacific Pidgin English (PPE) etymology



Friends,
 
Thomas H. Slone made a good coverage of differences between Tok Pisin
Language Groupings in the Pacific. Especially with their "vague" connection
with the English Language over many past years. Thomas used books to qualify
the development the language (Pisin) from various countries in the Pacific
during contact with English and a mixture of Melanesian languages. Any
etymologists would agree with me that a language is living and growing. We
have many languages in PNG and we belong to both austranesian and
non-austranesian language groups. Tok Pisin is our national language, and
many of us grew up with many Tok Pisin versions in PNG, which means that we
do not have to sit in a classroom and learn it. It is grown and developed in
us as we grow up. We do not have any difficulty understanding Vanuatu
Bislama (VB), Solomon Islands Pisin (SIP), Torres Straits Creole (TSC) and
the Pacific Pidgin English (PPE) because in PNG is more complicated. It will
always be a living experience with continuous learning for us when come into
contact with each other. We have common conflicts with sounds and
combinations of sounds for instance, there is always an absence of vowels
between consonants like "dl", "nd","rl", "fl", "fr" "wd", "md", "vw", "pf"
etc, even in New Ireland where I am from, some pupils found it difficult to
work out the correct sound for the word "pawpw", some would say  "fawfaw"
instead. Many coastal Tok Pisin Speakers would still find it difficult to
understand a central Bougainvillian villager because almost every word he
would use, to extent would include "r" sound. Similarly, the Sepik and
Kerema both have very fast "r" sound included in almost every sentence in
Tok Pisin. It would be good to have a standardised Tok Pisin version for all
in the Pacific. Although, it would be a big task if we consider doing it.
 
Mesulam Aisoli
mva at lihir.com.pg <mailto:mva at lihir.com.pg> 
LIHIR

 
 -----Original Message-----
From: Thomas H. Slone [mailto:THSlone at yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, 26 July 2002 1:16 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Comments on Pacific Pidgin English (PPE) etymology



John Burton recently indicated a PPE etymology for some Tok Pisin words and
gave equivalent words in other Melanesian (Bislamic) pidgins for them.  I
think that we can apply two tests to convince ourselves that a word passed
through PPE:

1) Is there an equivalently derived word in other Melanesian Pidgins that
has a different meaning than earlier etymology (usually English).  For
example, "wan" does not count because it has the same meaning as "one" in
English, whereas "kilim" does count because it has a different meaning in
all Bislamic pidgins than it does in English (i.e., "to hit").

2) Is there evidence for the PPE root word in early documentation?
Churchill (1911) is an excellent source for this because he summarized
pidgin English from several sources across the South Pacific from 1844-1911.

Abbreviations used below: Tok Pisin (TP), Vanuatu Bislama (VB), Solomon
Islands Pidgin (SIP), and Torres Straits Creole (Broken) (TSC), Pacific
Pidgin English (PPE)

Note: Churchill's spellings are Anglicized and I have phoneticized them
below.

The Bislama reference is Crowley (1995), the SIP reference is Simons & Young
(1978), and the TSC reference is Shnukal (1988).

Part I: words of PPE origin as indicated by John on the Web site (for these,
I mostly fill in the SIP words not given by John)

TP: baga, bagarap, bagarapim
SIP: bagarap, bagarem ap (p. 29)
VB: baga, bagarap, bagaremap (p. 39)
TSC: baga, bagarap (p. 112)
PPE: *baga

TP: baut, bautim (to turn)
SIP: no equivalent?
VB: baut (to tack [nautical]) (p. 41)
TSC: no equivalent? (baut in TSC = nabaut in TP [pp. 113-114])
PPE: *baut [John Burton thinks this is from PPE, but I'm not convinced.
There's no equivalent in SIP or TSC and it's not in Churchill (1911).]

TP: bruk, brukim
SIP: brek, brekem (p. 34)
VB: brek/brok, brekem/brokem (pp. 55-56)
TSC: brok (p. 119)
PPE: *brek (according to John) but Churchill (1911: 36) quotes Wawn (1891:
97, 144) with "Cappen he broke." [The captain is injured.] and "Man Sandwich
make big wind, big wind broke ship belonga me." so maybe *brok is correct?

TP: holim
SIP: holem (p. 56)
VB: holem (pp. 97-98)
TSC: no equivalent?
PPE: *holim

TP: inap, inapim
SIP: inaf/naf (p. 58)
VB: inaf/nap (pp. 100, 155)
TSC: inap (p. 138)
PPE: *inap

TP: nambis
SIP: sanbis (p. 99)
VB: sanbij (p. 293)
TSC: sanbis (p. 194)
PPE: *sanbis

TP: narakain
SIP: narakaen (p. 82)
VB: narakaen (p. 164)
TSC: nadakain (p. 168)
PPE: *nara + *kain

TP: narapela
SIP: narafala (p. 82)
VB: narafala (p. 164)
TSC: nada (p. 168)
PPE: *nara + *fala

TP: pikinini
SIP: pikinini (p. 91)
VB: pikinini (p. 184)
TSC: piknini (p. 180)
PPE: *pikinini

TP: planti
SIP: plande (p. 91)
VB: plante (p. 187)
TSC: plenti (p. 183)
PPE: *plenti

TP: sanap, sanapim
SIP: stan ap (p. 107)
VB: stanap, stanemap (p. 230)
TSC: stanap (p. 206)
PPE: *stanap

TP: wokabaut
SIP: wokabaot (p. 119)
VB: wokbaot (p. 263-264)
TSC: wagbaut/wogbaut (pp. 220, 227)
PPE: *wokabaut (Churchill, 1911: 52)

Part II: More words with PPE origin

TP: kaikai/kaikaiim
SIP: kaikai/kaikaiim (p. 60)
VB: kakae (pp. 106-107)
TSC: kaikai (p. 140)
PPE: *kaikai (Churchill, 1911: 44)

TP: bulmakau
SIP: bulumakao (p. 128)
VB: bulumakao (archaic) (p. 58)
TSC: bulmakao (p. 120)
PPE: *bulamakau; Churchill (1911: 37) reports "bullamacow" and "pulumakau"

TP: meri
SIP: mere (p. 78)
VB: meri (obsolete) (p. 150)
TSC: no equivalent?
PPE: *meri (Churchill, 1911: 46)

TP: bilong
SIP: blong (p. 32)
VB: blong (p. 50)
TSC: blo, blong (p. 117)
PPE: *bilong (Churchill, 1911: 35)

TP: dispela
SIP: desfala (p. 37)
VB: disfala (p. 63)
TSC: dis (p. 126)
PPE: *dis + *fela; Churchill (1911: 51) says that "this" is "the near
demonstrative,  idiomatically supported by fellow."

TP: giaman/giamanim
SIP: giaman/giamanem (p. 49)
VB: giaman (p. 84)
TSC: geman, gyeman, gyaman (p. 134)
PPE: *gamon (Churchill, 1911: 41) or *kiaman (specific to New Ireland
[Churchill, 1911: 44])

TP: i
SIP: i (p. 57)
VB: i (p. 99)
TSC: i  (p. 138)
PPE: *i (Churchill, 1911: 42)

TP: kanaka
SIP: kanaka (p. 61)
VB: kanaka (p. 109)
TSC: no equivalent?
PPE: *kanaka (Churchill, 1911: 44)

TP: long
SIP: long (p. 73)
VB: long (p. 138)
TSC: long (p. 157)
PPE: *long (Churchill, 1911: 45)

TP: sapos
SIP: sapos (p. 99)
VB: sapos (p. 208)
TSC: no equivalent ?
PPE: *sapos (Churchill, 1911: 50)

TP: singsing
SIP: singsing (specifically, "a song") (p. 103)
VB: singsing (specifically, "to sing") (p. 216)
TSC: no equivalent?
PPE: *singsing ("a song" or "a dance" [Churchill, 1911: 49])

TP: -pela
SIP: -fala (p. 43)
VB: -fala
TSC: no equivalent?
PPE: *fela (Churchill, 1911: 40)

TP: wanem
SIP: wanem (p. 116)
VB: wanem (p. 258)
TSC: wanem (pp. 221-222)
PPE: *wanem (what + name) (Churchill, 1911: 53)

TP: kilim
SIP: kil, kilim (p. 65)
VB: kil, kilim (p. 118)
TSC: kile (means "to kill" only, not "to hit") (p. 146)
PPE: *kil (Churchill, 1911: 44)

TP: bai, bambai,  baimbai
SIP: bae, baebae, baembae (p. 28)
VB: bae, bambae (p. 38)
TSC: bambai (p. 113)
PPE: *baimbai (Churchill, 1911: 37)

TP: bin
SIP: bin (p. 165)
VB: bin (p. 47)
TSC: bi, bin (p. 116)
PPE: *bin (Churchill, 1911: 35)

>[In a previous posting, I wrote:]
>Franis / Ples bilong ol man wiwi: France (Balzer, 1999: 114).
>Compare to the English use of "wi-wi" (oui-oui) as pejorative for
>the French (Hughes, 1991: 129)
>[BURTON John] Hmm. Pushing it a bit here.

Regarding plausibility of "wiwi " in TP:  Churchill (1911: 53) reports
"man-o-weewee" from Wawn (1893: 143) as being the term for Frenchman.
Crowley (1995: 263) also reports "wiwi" as obsolete for French.

Part III: Pronouns
            single  dual            plural
1st excl.
TP:              mi      mitupala        mipela
VB/SIP:   mi      mitufala        mifala
TSC:              mi      mitu, wi        mipla, wi
Churchill:     me      me two fellow   me fellow

1st. incl.
TP:          -       yumitupela      yumi
VB/SIP:     -       yumitufala      yumi
TSC:                -       yumi, wi        yumpla, wi

2nd
TP:                yu      yutupela        yupela
VB/SIP:   yu      yutufala        yufala
TSC:              yu      yutu            yupla
Churchill: you                     you fellow

3rd
TP:                em      tupela          ol
VB:           hem     tufala          ol
SIP:          hem     tufala          olketa
TSC:              em      demtu** dempla, ol
Churchill:    him                     all

PPE:
        single  dual            plural
1st               *mi     *mitufela       *mifela
2nd              *yu                     *yufela 
3rd             *hem                    *ol
(or *him)

References
Churchill, William (1911). Beach-la-mar: The Jargon or Trade Speech of the
Western Pacific. Pub. No. 154. Washington, DC: Carnegie Institution, 54 pp.
Reprinted in 1979 by AMS Press, New York.

Crowley, Terry (1995). A New Bislama Dictionary. Suva, Fiji: Institute of
Pacific Studies.

Shnukal, Anna (1988). Broken: An Introduction to the Creole Language of
Torres Strait. Canberra: Australian National University. Pacific Linguistics
C-107.

Simons, Linda & Young, Hugh (1978). Pijin Blong Yumi: A Guide to Solomon
Islands Pijin. Honiara: Solomon Islands Christian Association.

Wawn, William T. (1893). The South Sea Islanders and the Queensland Labour
Trade: A Record of Voyages and Experiences in the Western Pacific, from 1875
to 1891. London: Swan Sonnenschen & Co. [cited in Churchill (1911)]

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