[Mihalic] a comment on maski etymology

[C A Volker]

In going over some old postings, I saw that Don Niles asked
> Does maski
* exist in other Pacific pidgins too?

Maski does turn up in one other pidgin/creole I've worked with, Rabaul
Creole German or "Unserdeutsch". This language is now used by only a few
elderly people, but it was once spoken by the mixed-race community that
originated, and centered around, the orphanage and school for mixed-race
children at the Vunapope Mission near Rabaul. In fact, its use is one of the
features its speakers used to show that it was different from "real" German.

Rabaul Creole German originated in the 1890s and some of its speakers may
have had contact or even come from the Malay-speaking community in Rabaul.
The first Rabaul Creole German speakers all spoke standard German as well.
The presence of "maski" in Rabaul Creole German shows that it probably dates
from the pre-WWI German period.  The fact that Rabaul Creole German speakers
had both Rabaul Creole German/Tok Pisin "maski" and Standard German
"(das/es) macht nichts" into their multilingual repertoire indicates that
German is probably not the origin. Their proximity to and probable contact
with Malay speakers is more evidence for a Malay origin.

Craig Volker

***************************
よろしくお願いします。
岐阜聖徳学園大学助教授
クレイグ・フォルカー

Craig Volker, PhD
Associate Professor
Gifu Shotoku Gakuen University
Gifu, Japan

volker at nalik.org