Notes on Tok Pisin

Note on format: The following syntax will be used
Italics will mark words in Tok Pisin
/Forward slashes/ will be used for pronunciation guides
'Single quotes' will be used for definitions
"Double quotes" will be used for root words
I will try to adhere to this throughout the blog.

Sounds:
Vowels: Pisin uses a 5 vowel system, similar to Japanese: a (/ah/), e (/eh/), i (/ee/), o (/oh/), and u (/oo/).
Consonants: p, b, t, d, k, g, v, s, h, m, n, ŋ, l, w j, r

That said, the vowels can vary, becoming more complex that the basic 5, either though diphthongs or by influences from outside languages.

Grammar:
Verbal system:
-im is a transitive suffix for verbs
Tense is controlled by helper verbs, with the default tense being present. Future uses bai (from "by and by") and the past uses bin ("been"). Present progressive tense is indicated with a stap. (ie, 'eating' would be kaikai stap, or "food stop") Completive/perfective aspect uses the word pinis ("finish").
The only person differences are that verbs with 3rd person subjects use a helper i between subject and verb.

Nounal system:
No number indicator (save for pronouns). Gender does not seem to be indicated by the nouns.

Pronouns:
Here, I'm just going to copy Wikipedia's chart. Interestingly, the 3rd person singular is ungendered.

	Singular	Dual	Trial	Plural
1st exclusive	mi (I)	mitupela (he/she and I)	mitripela (both of them, and I)	mipela (all of them, and I)
1st inclusive	-	yumitupela (thou and I)	yumitripela (both of you, and I)	yumipela or yumi (all of you, and I)
2nd	yu (thou)	yutupela (you two)	yutripela (you three)	yupela (you four or more)
3rd	em (he/she)	tupela (they two)	tripela (they three)	ol (they four or more)

Duals are used often, Trials less so.

Adjectives:
Usually have the pela ("fellow"). Some dialects shorten -pela to -pla. The notable exception to this is liklik ('little'). Numbers used adjectivally use either -pela or a counter depending on what is being numbered.

Prepositions:
There are only two: long and bilong. Bilong is used to make a genitive or construct chain of words. ('My name' being nem bilong mi.) Long is used for all other prepositions, functioning as a indirect object marker.

Reduplication is used both for a form of derivation and also to distinguish between similar sounding words. (sip 'ship' and sipsip 'sheep')

Sentence structure mirrors English.

Wikipedia Source

Observations:
There are a large number of gramaticalizations of the words used in Tok Pisin from the English roots. Words such as "fellow" and "belong" morph through usage to technical grammatical terms (-pela denoting an adjective/pronoun, bilong marking a genitive prepositional phrase). Gras ("grass") is used for anything grass-like, such as maus gras ("mouth grass" or 'moustache').
Roots seem to come from English, German, and Portuguese, though several words are from traditional langauges of the islands.

Some History and Culture

Papua New Guinea was more or less ignored by the West until late in the 19th century. Human remains have been found dating back 50,000 years. Even after the West started to have more than a passing interest in the country, it was mostly constrained to the coast. It has been administered by the Germans, the Japanese and the Australians before gaining independence in 1975.

The Highlands specifically weren't explored until the 20th century, when they were explored and "pacified". Today, they are the most densely populated areas of the country. Mostly agricultural, they produce coffee, tea, cocoa, and other cash crops, as well as traditional villages and gardens.

The inhabitants are tribal and continue to practice ritual gift-giving. Inter-tribal gift ceremonies can be lavish and extravagant. While continuing to hold to traditional tribal villages, they have adopted a lot of modern technology and customs: gifts today include traditional food and livestock (pigs) as well as motor vehicles. Tribes do also practice tribal warfare, though the violence is limited to the offending tribe (and outsides, a la Europeans, are more or less ignored). Mostly wounds arise out of this, but death is not unheard of.

Dress ranges from the traditional wicker belt, perhaps with a flap of cloth in front and leaves covering the rear for men and grass skirts for women to western apparel (though women do not wear pants). Traditional wear is mostly saved for sing sings, the gift-giving ceremonies.

First Post!

This blog is going to be used by me for relfections and notes while I travel to the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Specifically, I and my family will be at Kudjip Nazarene Hospital. My wife will be working there as a physician. Meanwhile, I will be helping around the compound, watching our two year old girl, and hopefully learning a bit of the local language, Tok Pisin. I hope to come away with an appreciation for the Papua New Guinean culture, a basic understanding of the language, and many new experiences.

This blog is for academic purposes, mostly. Our family blog can be found here.