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Pacific Pidgins and Creoles discusses the complex and fascinating history of English-based pidgins in the Pacific, especially the three closely related Melanesian pidgins: Tok Pisin, Pijin, and Bislama. The book details the central role of the port of Sydney and the linguistic synergies between Australia and the Pacific islands in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the role of Pacific islander plantation labor overseas, and the differentiation which has taken place in the pidgins spoken in the Melanesian island states in the 20th century. It also looks at the future of Pacific pidgins at a time of increasing vernacular language endangerment.
List of contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Present-day Pacific Pidgins
2.1. Bislama
2.2. Solomon Islands Pijin
2.3. Tok Pisin (Papua New Guinea)
2.4. Pitcairn-Norfolk
2.5. Hawaiian Pidgin English
2.6. Ngatik Men's Language
2.7. Australian Kriol
2.8 Broken (Torres Strait)
2.9. Nauruan Pidgin English
Chapter 3: Previous theories of pidgin development
3.1. Genesis and general theory
3.1.1. Derek Bickerton: universalist theory and the Bio-program
3.1.2. Peter Mühlhäusler: generalist and Pacific pidginist
3.2. The genesis of contact languages in Oceania
3.2.1. Ross Clark, an exceptional pidginist
3.2.2. Roger Keesing and the preponderance of the substrate in the genesis of Pacific pidgins and creoles
3.2.3. Tom Dutton and Jakelin Troy: the role of the English target-language in the development of Australian and Pacific pidgins
3.2.4. Terry Crowley, Bislama and the genesis of Pacific contact languages
Chapter 4: Early days: History of the contacts 1788-1863
A. The Australian scene
B. Australia - South Pacific maritime links
Chapter 5: The beginnings: The language situation 1788-1863
5.1. Foreigner Talk and European Contact in Australia and the Pacific
5.2. Samples of New South Wales Pidgin 1788-1850
5.3. New South Wales Pidgin glossary 1788-1850
5.4. Samples from Pacific states pre-1863
5.5. Pacific Pidgin glossary 1788-1850 (list of first usages, including Australia and Pacific)
Chapter 6: The plantations: History of contacts 1863-1906
6.1. Introductory
6.2. The overseas plantations
6.3. The sources of labour
6.4. Other Pacific states involved pre-1863
6.5. Plantations at home
Chapter 7: Jargon to pidgin: The language situation 1863-1906
7.1. Examples from 19th century written sources
7.2. 1885 Royal Commission
7.3. Queensland Canefields English
7.4. The Vanuatu corpus
Chapter 8: Colonial days: History of contacts 1906-1975
8.1. Plantations in the New Hebrides Condominium (Vanuatu)
8.2. Papua New Guinea (and Samoa)
8.3. Solomon Islands
Chapter 9: Differentiation: The language situation 1906-1975
9.1. Overall situation at the beginning of the 20th Century
9.2. New Hebrides (Vanuatu)
9.3. Solomon Islands
9.4. Papua New Guinea
9.5. Bislama, Solomons Pijin and Tok Pisin: differential elements
Chapter 10: Today's world: 1975 to the present
10.1. Vanuatu
10.2. Papua New Guinea (PNG)
10.3. Solomon Islands
Chapter 11: Conclusion
About the author
Darrell T. Tryon is Professor at the Australian National University, Australia. Jean-Michel Charpentier researches at the LACITO (Laboratoire de Langues et Cultures a Tradition Orale), CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), Paris, France.
Report
"[...] T&C are to be commended for providing a nice collection of clear maps, a major boon to readers unfamiliar with the web of islands that witnessed the development of the Pacific pidgins. And in general, this is a collection between two covers of data and arguments that ought be of interest to all who seek enlightenment based on concrete and exhaustive empirical evidence on how pidgin and creole languages have arisen, diverged, and stabilized."John McWhorter in: Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages, 2008 "Nevertheless, this book is a milestone in the historical linguistics of Pacific pidgins and creoles. It is a must not only for every linguist interested in pidgins and creoles and their history, but also for sociolinguists interested in language change and development, as well as for all linguists working in the area!"Gunter Senft in: Linguistics, 44, 1-2006 "Although I knew quitea lot, I also learned quite a lot from reading it."Alfred F. Majewicz in: Linguistic and Oriental Studies from Poznan 6/2004
