Tok Pisin

Spoken in

Approximately 3-4 million second language speakers

• Creole languages english based Tok Pisin

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Tpi

Tpi

The creole Tok Pisin (sometimes even pidgin English, in the literature also New Guinea Pidgin, Melanesian Pidgin, Neomelanesian ) is the most widely used lingua franca in Papua New Guinea. It is a variant or development of Melanesian Pidgin, also belong to the Bislama in Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Torres Pijin Creole on the islands of the Torres Strait (Australia).

General

The language is mainly used for communication between members of different language communities, but has - unlike most pidgin languages ​​- including an increasing number of native speakers. The language is made up of English and Melanesian elements, in addition, there are still large German influences. There are several dialects, such as the stronger influence from English to Pidgin Waigani Port Moresby. Tok Pisin has developed from a pidgin to a creole language, this development is still ongoing, because the native speakers still represent a minority of all the speakers, but to grow strongly this group - this is accompanied by the extinction of many languages ​​with few speakers.

There is a greater similarity and historical kinship of languages ​​spoken on the island provinces of Papua New Guinea Tok Pisin with Bislama in Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands Pijin.

Some words of this language are, for example:

History of Language

Even for the period before taking possession of Papua New Guinea by the Germans, the existence of an English -based pidgin is known. Used whaling and merchant ships with most coming from the Pacific Islands crew or possibly brought the language in the country. An early form of Tok Pisin was during the German colonial rule (see Bismarck Archipelago and Kaiser-Wilhelms -Land) under the pejorative names tokboi (Diener language of engl. "Talk boy" ) known Kanak language or "English".

As increasingly Guineans and Trobriander were used as personnel on merchant ships until the 1880s and early missionaries previously hardly quoted pidgin speakers can be assumed that the early form of Tok Pisin only spread as a lingua franca from this time. Also conducive to the spread of the language was at this time rapidly expanding copra trade, which brought an increased volume of traffic in the Pacific with it.

The language of Tok Pisin is changing rapidly, so that in some cases the understanding between generations and between rural and urban areas is difficult.

Grammar

Like other Pidgin Tok Pisin also has a very simple grammar. There is neither conjugation nor declination. There are only two forms of the past and a future tense, with the verb does not change, but the time is expressed by the prefix or suffix word ( past tense: " am," Perfect " pinis " ( trailing), Futur " bai ", ie "mi 'm go" = " I went ", "mi go pinis " = " I 'm gone ", " bai mi go" = " I will go ").

A grammatical peculiarity of the language are the two forms of the personal pronoun in the first person plural: there are some variants of the language we an inclusive and exclusive we. However, this is a phenomenon that has been well taken and retained from the Polynesian languages. In the exclusive form of the addressee are not included in the inclusive form already. Serves as an example of the German sentence: We know

• Exclusive form: Mipela i save ( We: Only the group that speaks the speaker knows it. )
• Including Form: Yumi save ( We: Both the group for which the speaker speaks, and the addressee know it. )

The inclusive form, however, is not the same yumi common in all regions. In the language of the highlands it is hardly used.