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<div>I just finished looking through a new book Peter Mühlhäusler,
Thomas E. Dutton & Suzanne Romaine,<i> Tok Pisin Texts: From the
Beginning to the Present</i>, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins,
2003.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>It's quite interesting to see the evolution of Tok Pisin laid out
all in one place using mostly previously unpublished texts.
Pages 1-34 discuss history and grammar and pages 35-280 present a
range of text examples with literal word-by-word glosses and
translations. Particularly interesting are some of the earliest
texts, including one from 1844.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Here my notes for the dictionary</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>i: pp. 37-38, a text from the 1880s shows the use of "he"
as a third person pronoun. The authors state this as evidence
that "he" is the origin of the predicate marker "i"
in modern Tok Pisin.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>boi: p. 2, the authors claim that the Tok Pisin "boi"
combines the Hindustani "bhoi" (carrier or bearer) with the
English "boy"</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>aniani: p. 13, the authors claim this is the Tok Pisin word for
onion. I only previously seen this in print except in the the
title of the book<i> Kaikai Aniani</i>. Is this word really used
(as opposed to "anian")?</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>meri: p. 45, in addition to the English origin ("Mary"
+ "marry"), they say that it was reinforced by the Tolai
"mare" (beautiful)</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>maski: p. 45, widespread in pidgins & creoles (but reinforced
by German "macht nichts"); see the Linguist List for a
discussion of this:
http://www.linguistlist.org/issues/7/7-861.html#5</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>tete: p. 61, "tete" was used in a 1939 letter meaning
"today". In modern Tok Pisin, I have seen "tete"
in<i> Stori Tumbuna</i>. I asked a fluent Tok Pisin speaker
(East Sepik Province) what "tete" meant. He translated
it as implying immediacy and not meaning "today"<i> per
se</i>. His example was "Tete mi paitim yu!" meaning
"I'm going to beat you up right now!" Is there
confirmation on the this meaning? Do "tete" and
"tude" both come from the English "today"?</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>On p. 59, Mühlhäusler reports that he recorded an elderly Tok
Pisin speaker using the following German-origin words: snaidejunge
(apprentice tailor), snaider (tailor), schule ([to go to] school), and
yar (year).</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>monki: p. 71, monkey (is this used?)</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>marimari: from the Molot language of New Ireland , "to love"
or "to have pity" (Mihalic says it's from the Gazelle
Peninsula)</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>kandere: pp. 94-95, alternate meaning "penis" (Tok
Bokis); Mühlhäusler confirmed the sexual allusion because the word
starts with "kan"</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>stesin: p. 143, the authors say this word is from both the
English "plantation"</div>
<div> and "station"</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>stik: p. 155, "twist tobacco" (Mihalic reports
"stik tabak" and "tabak stik")</div>
<div>stinge, p. 155, "twist tobacco"</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>meme: p. 212, the authors say this is onomatopoeic or from the
Tolai "me" (also onomatopoiac (Mihalic just says that it's
from the Gazelle Peninsula)</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>pulim tang: pp. 217-218 (synonym of givim tang which is in the
revision)</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>bubu: p. 270, also occurs in Bislama, "Crowley (1990)
believes that both Malo and Rzga [languages]<i> bumbu</i> and Mota
[language]<i> pupua</i> are possible sources, as is Fijian<i>
bubu</i>." (Crowley, Terry [1990].<i> Beach-la-Mar to Bislama.
The Emergence of a National Language in Vanuatu</i>. Clarendon Press:
Oxford.) This word does not occur in Solomon Islands Pijin
(Jourdan 2002) or Torres Strait Broken (Shnukal, 1988). Is is
from Pacific Pidgin English?</div>
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