[Mihalic] Pidgin in journalism

Vince vinosvd at yahoo.com
Thu Jun 12 11:42:38 EST 2008


 
This
kind of Tok Pisin is not surprising to me. I do not know what sort of
education Joseph Kabui had. If he went through Uni he would have had a
kind of Tok Pisin completely removed from the ordinary person born and
raised in a village and going through a village school only.

Then the questions I have are:
Who was the interviewer and that person's skill in Tok Pisin?
Who transcribed the interview from the tape to written text and that person's skill in Tok Pisin?
    e.g. who typed this: "long December last year long check up"
        whoever it was did not know Tok Pisin.
Then the layout person and that person's skill in Tok Pisin?
Then who was the proof reader and that person's skill in Tok Pisin?
Then the editor of the paper and that person's skill in Tok Pisin?

By reading the text as given one has no idea of what was actually said by Joseph Kabui!

Vince Ohlinger



----- Original Message ----
From: John Burton <john.burton at anu.edu.au>
To: mihalic at anu.edu.au
Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 1:46:48 AM
Subject: Re: [Mihalic] Pidgin in journalism

 
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
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