[Mihalic] Bislama - We

[John Burton]

Miriam

Classical Tok Pisin does not use _we_ in this way, though there may be
regional exceptions that we have to find out about. However, I think
idiomatic modern TP can use it a lot.

Here are some possible examples in Tok Pisin:

Classical TP: Pisin ol man i sutim save pundaun long diwai.
'Birds that are shot fall out of trees'

Alt: Ol pisin, we ol man i bin sutim pastaim, save pundaun long diwai.
'Birds, in the case that men have shot them earlier, fall out of trees'

Hardly pleasant to say, but if you substitute corporations or taxation
policy, the _we_ form may prevail:

Classical TP: n/a

Alt: Kompani, we mak bilong wok bilong kontrakto insait long PNG i ova
long K50,000 long wanwan yia, i mas kamautim withholding tax long pe
bilong ol.
'Companies, where the value of a contractor's work within PNG is more than
K50,000 annually, must deduct withholding tax from payments made to them.'

This kind of formulation suggests that the creeping entry of _we_ is from
the influence of English.

Mihalic [http://coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/PNG/MIHALIC/Index.htm] list
subscribers may have further views.

John Burton

Dr John Burton
Fellow
Resource Management in Asia-Pacific Program
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
Australian National University
ACT 0200 Australia

tel +61 2 6125 8786
fax + 61 2 6125 1635
mob 0423 941 419
john.burton at anu.edu.au


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Oceanic Anthropology Discussion Group
> [mailto:ASAONET at LISTSERV.UIC.EDU] On Behalf Of Miriam Meyerhoff
> Sent: Wednesday, 15 February 2006 9:36 PM
> To: ASAONET at LISTSERV.UIC.EDU
> Subject: relative clauses in Tok Pisin/Solomons Pijin
>
>
> Dear All,
>
> In Bislama, it is possible (but not necessary) to introduce relative
> clauses with the relativiser <we>
>
> Pijin we mi sutum i foldaon long tri
> bird REL 1sg shoot AGR fall PREP tree
> 'the bird I shot fell out of the tree'
>
> Blad blong pijin we mi sutum i folfoldaon
> blood of bird REL 1s shoot AGR drip
> 'the blood of the bird I shot dripped down'
>
> Mi sutum wan pijin we mifala i kolem grinpijin
> 'I shot a bird REL we call 'grinpijin' '
>
> Mi sutum wan pijin we (hem) i bigwan tumas
> 'I shot a bird REL was very big'
>
> etc. You'll get the idea of the productivity of the relativiser <we>.
>
> Dutton's 1973 intro to Tok Pisin does not show an overt relativiser
> in most relative clauses but I do not know if this is the case, and I
> do not know what the situation is in Solomons Pijin.
>
> I would be interested to hear from anybody regarding the use of a
> /we/-like morpheme to introduce relative clauses in Tok Pisin and
> Pijin.
>
> If you reply to me personally, I will summarise the responses
> for the list.
>
> Many thanks.
>
> Miriam
>
> --
>
> Miriam Meyerhoff
> Reader, Linguistics & English Language
> University of Edinburgh
> 14 Buccleuch Place
> Edinburgh EH8 9LN
> SCOTLAND, UK
>
> ph. +44 131 651-1836 (direct line); 650-3628 or 651-1842 (main office)
> fax: +44 131 650-6883
>
> http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/~mhoff/
>