It’s all in the tongue…
Now English has become the main language used for communication. Whether you go to Rome, Budapest or Japan, you can communicate in English. The story of Pidgin English(es) is the story of people who really needed to communicate. Such languages develop on the areas where there is usually trade between different nations: each with their languages and dialects. For the purpose of trade a language became to be developed. One of the most famous pidgins (or rather creole languages: as a pidgin language which becomes to have generations of native speakers is called creole) is Tok Pisin, a language spoken in New Guinea by 4 million people! It has become one of the official languages of New Guinea. The origins must be traced back to mixing of Pacific Islanders who spoke numerous different languages and developed a language called pidgin. The language was based on English, but simpler. It had simpler grammar: for example lack plurals, determiners, prepositions. The tense was indicated by a single word (bai indicates the future, bin indicates the past). The phonology is simpler and the same pronunciation can mean many different things, for example the pronunciation “pis” can mean beads, beach, fish, peach, piss, feast, peace! The vocabulary also got simplified. Firstly, words have mor emeanings. For example “hevi” can mean both heavy (adj) and weight (noun). Also words are combined with different words and these combinations are meaningful, for example: haus is a house, haus sik is a hospital, sit haus is a toilet. Some names are also used in a more general way. A nice example is the word “meri”, which means a woman – and was taken from the English name Mary.
Here is a short, useful dialogue in Tok Pisin. Simply enjoy!
Ahm, wanpela sit i stap lo fotint.
Hm, there is a seat on the 14th.
Oke, putim mi lo dispela.
OK, put me on that one.
Ating bihain long apinun o tumora mi…
Perhaps later this afternoon or tomorrow I…
…mi gat wanpela tiket bai mi…
…I’ve got a ticket that I…
…mi no bin yusim from Lae kam long hia.
…I haven’t used it from Lae to here.
OK. Em i bilong go long we? Lae o Mosbi?
OK. What’s its destination? Lae or Port Moresby?
No, long hia i go long Mosbi.
No, from here to Port Moresby.
Oke.
OK.