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.

Auteur

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.

Résumé

TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS is a series of books that open new perspectives in our understanding of language. The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks, as well as studies that provide new insights by approaching language from an interdisciplinary perspective.

TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language.

TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS publishes monographs and outstanding dissertations as well as edited volumes, which provide the opportunity to address controversial topics from different empirical and theoretical viewpoints. High quality standards are ensured through anonymous reviewing.

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Contenu

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