The term pidgin English ("business English"), first attested in 1855, shows the term in transition to referring to language, and by the 1860s the term pidgin alone could refer to Pidgin English. Pidgin derives from a Chinese pronunciation of the English word business, and all attestations from the first half of the nineteenth century given in the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary mean "business an action, occupation, or affair" (the earliest being from 1807). Most linguists believe that a creole develops through a process of nativization of a pidgin when children of acquired pidgin-speakers learn and use it as their native language. Unlike pidgins, creoles have fully developed vocabulary and patterned grammar. Ī pidgin differs from a creole, which is the first language of a speech community of native speakers that at one point arose from a pidgin. Each pidgin has its own norms of usage which must be learned for proficiency in the pidgin. However, not all simplified or "unsophisticated" forms of a language are pidgins. ![]() Pidgins have historically been considered a form of patois, unsophisticated simplified versions of their lexifiers, and as such usually have low prestige with respect to other languages. As the lexicon of any pidgin will be limited to core vocabulary, words with only a specific meaning in the lexifier language may acquire a completely new (or additional) meaning in the pidgin. Ī pidgin may be built from words, sounds, or body language from a multitude of languages as well as onomatopoeia. A pidgin is not the native language of any speech community, but is instead learned as a second language. Linguists do not typically consider pidgins as full or complete languages.įundamentally, a pidgin is a simplified means of linguistic communication, as it is constructed impromptu, or by convention, between individuals or groups of people. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the country in which they reside (but where there is no common language between the groups). Good day, hello.A pidgin / ˈ p ɪ dʒ ɪ n/, or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from several languages. Borrowed words sometimes have a different meaning from that in English, e.g., baksait means ‘back’.īelow are some common words and phrases in Tok Pisin.Many borrowings are reduplicated, e.g., toktok ‘conversation’.Many words have a wider range of meanings in Tok Pisin than they do in English, for instance gras means ‘grass, hair, fur, feathers’, kukim means ‘cook, burn’.The borrowed words sometimes have a different meaning, e.g., baksait means ‘back’.However, there are many words that come from other languages. Most of the vocabulary of Tok Pisin comes from English.There are only two prepositions in Tok Pisin: bilong ‘belong’ which means ‘of” or ‘for,’ e.g., laplap bilong alta ‘altar cloth ‘, and long which means everything else, e.g., long bek ‘backwards’. The present progressive tense is marked by stap, the past tense is marked with bin ‘been ‘, and the future tense is marked with bai ‘by and by’.Some verbs such as kaikai ‘eat’ are not marked for transitivity. Most Tok Pisin verbs consist of a stem borrowed from English, French, or a local language plus the ending – im ‘him’ to mark transitivity, e.g., givim ‘give’.The language is widely used in mass media and religious services. There is a weekly Tok Pisin newspaper Wantok (‘one talk’), and many government publications are also in Tok Pisin. ![]() Tok Pisin is also used in Radio Australia’s Tok Pisin broadcasts. Today, however, communities can choose the language for use in the first three years of elementary education. Until recently, English was the official language of education in PNG, although Tok Pisin was widely used in community and church-run pre-schools and vocational schools. Although many people feel that Tok Pisin is inferior to English, most accept it as a separate language, important for PNG’s national identity. It is the first language of people residing in mixed urban areas who pass it on to their children, and the second language of over 4 million people country-wide. English is more widely used for official business but Tok Pisin serves as a lingua franca for speakers of PNG’s 820 different languages. The constitution of Papua New Guinea (PNG) recognizes Tok Pisin as a national language, along with Hiri Motu and English.
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