[Mihalic] Pidgin in journalism

[John Burton]

Yes "mi sapos long go" has been common for while now and is similar to "he
would of gone" in English. If you want to be pure about it, you shouldn't
hear the common "bihain long haus" ('later than .'), but you hear it
everywhere.

 

J

 

From: lila.san.roque at anu.edu.au [mailto:lila.san.roque at anu.edu.au] 
Sent: Wednesday, 11 June 2008 4:23 PM
To: john.burton at anu.edu.au
Cc: mihalic at anu.edu.au
Subject: Re: [Mihalic] Pidgin in journalism

 

Wow this is pretty interesting.

 

It looks like there is some adjustment of Tok Pisin words to English
spelling, regardless of the meaning of the English word (dispela - display).
Also a kind of calquing of English constructions based on sound similarity
(rather than semantic/functional equivalence) in `display taim mi sapos long
go' for `the time I was supposed to go'. I haven't heard this construction
before but then again haven't been speaking Tok Pisin for a while, do others
find it familiar?

----- Original Message -----
From: John Burton <john.burton at anu.edu.au>
Date: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 4:03 pm
Subject: [Mihalic] Pidgin in journalism
To: mihalic at anu.edu.au

> From the Post-Courier today. Comments?

> J

> Simple Kabui

> JOSEPH Kabui stopped taking his life-saving medicine four months ago
because he didn't have the money to pay for it and felt ashamed to ask for
help.
> "Yu save sister blong mi, mi no man blong askim long samting sapos em I
concernim mi,'' he told me in his last media interview on Friday afternoon
immediately after he arrived in Buka from his Manus trip.
> About 12 hours later, he collapsed from what is believed to have been a
massive heart attack and was dead before he could be rushed to the nearby
Buka Hospital.
> Late president Kabui, who could give me an interview at his Gateway
because he was either tired or tied up singled out to me from his Gateway
room after returning from the Manus Governor's conference: "ringim mi tomoro
(Friday) na bai yumi stori."
> Kabui, the villager, as he was described in numerous eulogies and tributes
in a State funeral in Port Moresby when asked why he did not want to get
more medicine supplies said he had a lot of faith and trust in a local brand
of water reputed to have healing powers and that he did not want to infringe
the Autonomous Bougainville Government funds for his own use.
> PC: "President, why yu no laik toksave long Masono olsem Administrator
long redim sampla moni blong yu long go long Mosbi tasol long December last
year long check up?
> Kabui: .mi gat planti wok long wokim, display taim mi sapos long go long
check up em mi bin stap long wanpla important miting wantaim olo lida blong
yumi na tu mi bin tied up long miting blong displa education subsidy blong
ol sumatin,ol pikinini bilong yumi."
> PC: Taim marasin i pinis, why yu no laik kisim moa supply?
> Kabui: Sista blong mi, tru tumas mi wari tumas long planti wok long wokim
na mi no tingim tumas marasin. Yu save sister blong mi, marasin em traipla
moni tumas tu, na yu save mi no man blong askim long samting sapos em I
concernim mi, so mi bin save kisim tasol ol liklik antibiotics''
> PC: SO as we speak, you sure need medicine president? Can I suggest we do
a fundraising for you?
> Kabui: thankyou, mi orait, review blong mi long Australia em long display
mun, maybe two weeks time (bai mi mas check wantim Townsville) tasol, mi mas
lukluk long painim sampla toea long kisim mi go, bikos last check up I
costim mi planti moni stret."
> This was part of the last interview held with late President Kabui on
Friday (not Thursday as we published yesterday).

 

> _______________________________________________
> Mihalic mailing list
> Mihalic at anu.edu.au
> http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/mihalic

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.anu.edu.au/pipermail/mihalic/attachments/20080611/a7768f74/attachment.html