Pijin language

"Pijin" redirects here. For the lingua francas composed from two or more languages, see Pidgin.

Pijin
Spoken in	Solomon Islands
Native speakers	24,400  (1999) understood by many more
Language family	English Creole Pacific Pijin
Language codes
ISO 639-2	cpe
ISO 639-3	pis
Linguasphere	52-ABB-cd

Pijin (Solomons Pidgin or Neo-Solomonic) is also referred to as Kanaka^[1] and is a language spoken in the Solomon Islands. It is closely related to Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea; Bislama of Vanuatu; and Torres Strait Creole of the Torres Strait, Queensland, Australia and is written in the Latin alphabet.

As of 1999 there were 306,984 second- or third-language speakers with a literacy rate in first language of 60%,a literacy rate in second language of 50%.^[1]

History

1800-1860

During the early 19th century, an English Jargon or Beach-La-Mar was developed and spread through the Pacific as a language between traders (Lingua franca) of the whaling industry at the end of the 18th century, the Sandalwood trade of the 1830s and the bêche-de-mer trade of the 1850s.^[2]

1860-1880

Between 1863 and 1906, Blackbirding was used for the sugar cane plantation labour trade in Queensland, Samoa, Fiji and New Caledonia. At the beginning of the trade period, the Australian planters started to recruit in the Loyalty Islands early 1860s, Kingsmill Islands and the Banks Islands around the mid 1860's, New Hebrides and the Santa Cruz Islands in the early 1870s, and New Ireland and New Britain from 1879 when recruiting became difficult. Around 13,000 Solomon Islanders were taken to Queensland during this labour trade period.^[3]

The (Kanaka) pidgin language was used on the plantations and became the lingua franca spoken between Melanesian workers (the Kanakas, as they were called) and European overseers. When Solomon Islanders came back to the Solomons at the end of their contract, or when they were forcefully repatriated at the end of the labour trade period (1904), they brought pidgin to the Solomon Islands. Old people today still remember the stories that were told by the old former Queensland hands many years after their return^{[4] [5]}

1880-1900

Plantation languages continued into the 20th century even though the process of blackbirding has ceased. Due to the changing nature of labour traffic there was a divergence of Samoan plantation Pijin and New Guinea Tok Pisin and also other plantation Pijin and Oceanic Pijins such as Bislama and Solomon Pijin.

After 1900

In 1901, there were approximately 10,000 Pacific Islanders working in Australia, most in the sugar cane industry in Queensland and northern New South Wales, many working as indentured labourers. The Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901, Parliament of Australia was the facilitation instrument used to deport approximately 7,500 Pacific Islanders.^[6]

Up until 1911 approximately 30,000 Solomon Islanders were indentured labourers to Queensland, Fiji, Samoa and New Caledonia.^[7] The use of Pijin by churches and missionaries assisted in the spread of Pijin.

2000s

Despite being the lingua franca of the Solomon Islands, Pijin remains a spoken language with little to no effort made thus far on the part of the national government toward standardising its orthography and grammar. This being the case Pijin remains a very flexible language where the main focus is on message delivery irrespective of the niceties of formal sentence construction.

Pronunciation

English Sound	Pijin Sound = becomes	Pijin example	English Origin
ch	s	tisa, sea, mass (haomass)	teacher, chair, much (how much?)
ch	si	sios	church
sh	s	sot, bus, masin	short, bush, machine
th	s	maos	mouth
th	t	torowe, torowem, ating, andanit	throw, throw away, I think, underneath
th	d	deswan, diswan, this wan	this one
th	r	nara, narawan	another, another one
th	t	brata, barata, bro	brother
z	s	resa	razor
-er	a	mata, mada (mami), soa, faea	matter, mother, pain sore, fire
or; ir/er	o; a/e	bon, bonem, bone, fastaem, festime (festaem)	born, burn, borne, first time

Introductions

Aftanun ol'ta! = Good afternoon everyone!

Nem blo' mi Charles = My name is Charles (The name that belongs to me is Charles)

Hao nao (iu)? (Iu hao?) = How are you

Wanem nao nem blo' iu? = What is your name?

Iu blo' wea? = Where are you from?

Mi hapi tumas fo mitim iu. = I'm pleased to meet you.

Wanem nao lanwis iu save tok? = What languages do you know?

Replies

Mi (me) olraet nomoa! = I am fine thank you!

Mi (me) gut (nomoa)! = I am fine thank you!

Alright nomoa! = Very well thank you!

Ma iu (yu) hao! = And how are you!

Personal Pronouns

Pijin	English
Mi	I, me
Iu, Yu	You
Hem	He she Him It
Mitufala	We Us (Exclusive Dual)
Iumitufala	We Us (Inclusive Dual)
Iutufala	You (Dual)
Tufala	They, Those Two (Dual)
Mifala	We Us 3 or more (Exclusive Plural)
Iumi	We Us 3 or more (Inclusive Plural)
Iufala	You 3 or more (Plural)
Olketa	They Them (Plural)
Olmere, Olketa mere	They, Them, All (married) women (Plural)
Olman, Olketa man	They, Them, All (married) men (Plural)
Olpikini, Olketa pikini	They, Them, All children (regarless of gender) (Plural)

Address

Wea nao ples blong/blo iu? Where is the place that belongs to you, (What is your address?)
iu stap lo wea distaem? Where are you now?

Questions

(pointing to an object)

• Wanem nao datwan? What is that one?
• Haomas nao bae hem kostem mi fo sendem wanfala erogram go lo' Japan How much will it cost me to send this letter to Japan?
• Hu nao bae save helpim mifala weitim diswan rabis? = Who will/might be able to help us with this mess
• Wea nao mi bae save paiem fea fo plen? = Where will/would I be able I buy a plane ticket?
• Haomas pipol save fitim insaet lo' truk blo' iu? = How many people can your truck/car/van carry?

General Expressions

• Tanggio tumas fo helpem mi = Thank you very much for helping me
• No wariwari. Hem oraet nomoa = No worries. It is all right (no more).
• Hem! = That's it! or That's the one!
• Hem na ya! = Voila! or Told you so! (A lot of people smile when foreigners use this correctly)
• Mi karange! = Wow!
• Mi dae nau! = Literally I'm dying but used generally to express surprise or shock.
• Iu kon man! = Liar/Cheat!
• Iu karange? = Are you mad?
• Diswan hem bagarap. = This (thing) is broken.
• Mi no save paiem (baem). = I can't afford it
• Iu save gud tumas pijin! = You speak pijin very well
• Iu save tumas! = You are very capable!
• Mi no save. = I don't know or I can't
• Lukim iu! = Bye! (literally: See you!)
• bro blo' mi / sista blo' mi = my brother / my sister (used respectfully to address the person to whom you are speaking – if spoken by a foreigner it can be quite powerful for breaking the ice)
• diswan hemi bulsit blo' waitman nomoa. = this is simply white-man nonsense

Audio examples

• Good News – PIJIN (Religious readings)

See also

• Pidgin
• Creole language

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.) (2005). "Pijin, A language of Solomon Islands". Ethnologue. http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=pis. Retrieved 2008-10-12. 
2. ^ William Churchill (1911). "The Jargon of the Western pacific". Nature 88 (2200): 295. doi:10.1038/088295a0. 
3. ^ ed Jeff Siegel (2000). Features and transformations of kinship terminology in Solomon Islands Pijin'. In Processes of Language Contact: Studies from Australia and the South Pacific. Montreal: Fides. pp. 99–122. 
4. ^ Christine Jourdan, Roger Keesing (1997). "From Pisin to Pijin: Creolization in process in the Solomon Islands". Language in Society 26 (3): 401–420. doi:10.1017/S0047404500019527. http://www.pidgin.ca/www/History/History.htm. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ Borut Telban (1996). "Legitimacy of Solomon Islands Pijin". Anthropological Notebooks 2 (1): 43–54. 
6. ^ Tracey Flanagan, Meredith Wilkie, Susanna Iuliano (2003). "A history of South Sea Islanders in Australia". Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. http://www.humanrights.gov.au/racial_discrimination/forum/Erace/history.html. Retrieved 2008-10-12. 
7. ^ Maggie Wateha'a. The Begiinners Pijin Handbook. Honiara: RAMSI. pp. 3. 

External links

• Pijin language at Ethnologue
• Holy Communion in Solomon Islands Pijin (1999) translated by Ernest W. Lee, transcribed by Richard Mammana