Comments on Pacific Pidgin English (PPE) etymology

[Thomas H. Slone]

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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