Some thoughts on Tok Pisin

Verbs only have 2 states with regards to person: 1st/2nd and 3rd. Example:

Mi lainim Tok Pisin
'I learn/am learning/learned Tok Pisin'

Yu lainim Tok Pisin
'You learn/are learning/learned Tok Pisin'

Em i lainim Tok Pisin
'He/she learns/is learning/learned Tok Pisin'

Note: Tense is implied via context. Also, the 3rd person singular pronoun is ungendered.

The difference, seems to be the presence of the particle i. The source would be gramaticalization and simplification of the phrase "Him, he learns". The /h/ is weak and drops out, leaving just the vowel /ee/, which in Pisin is written i. Since the "he" would have no place in 1st or 2nd person, it was never used, thus the difference in syntax.

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.

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.