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Pijin (Solomons Pidgin or Neo-Solomonic) is also referred to as Kanaka and is a language spoken in the Solomon Islands. It is closely related to Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea; Bislama of Vanuatu; and Torres Strait Creole of the Torres Strait, Queensland, Australia and is written in the Latin alphabet.

As of 1999 there were 306,984 second- or third-language speakers with a literacy rate in first language of 60%,a literacy rate in second language of 50%.

History

1800-1860

During the early 19th century, an English Jargon or Beach-La-Mar was developed and spread through the Pacific as a language between traders (Lingua franca) of the whaling industry at the end of the 18th century, the Sandalwood trade of the 1830s and the bêche-de-mer trade of the 1850s. Similar to the Lingua Franca of the Levant, the Pidgin of the China Seas, the Chinook Jargon of the American fur trade, the Negro-English of the Guiana plantations, and the Krooboy talk of the African coast

1860-1880

Between 1863 and 1906, Blackbirding was used for the sugar cane plantation labour trade in Queensland, Samoa, Fiji and New Caledonia. At the beginning of the trade period, the Australian planters started to recruit in the Loyalty Islands early 1860s, Kingsmill Islands and the Banks Islands around the mid 1860's, New Hebrides and the Santa Cruz Islands in the early 1870s, and New Ireland and New Britain from 1879 when recruiting became difficult. Around 13,000 Solomon Islanders were taken to Queensland during this labour trade period.

The (Kanaka) pidgin language was used on the plantations and became the lingua franca spoken between Melanesian workers (the Kanakas, as they were called) and European overseers. When Solomon Islanders came back to the Solomons at the end of their contract, or when they were forcefully repatriated at the end of the labour trade period (1904), they brought pidgin to the Solomon Islands. Old people today still remember the stories that were told by the old former Queensland hands many years after their return

1880-1900

Plantation languages continued into the 20th century even though the process of blackbirding has ceased. Due to the changing nature of labour traffic there was a divergence of Samoan plantation Pijin and New Guinea Tok Pisin and also other plantation Pijin and Oceanic Pijins such as Bislama and Solomon Pijin.

After 1900

In 1901, there were approximately 10,000 Pacific Islanders working in Australia, most in the sugar cane industry in Queensland and northern New South Wales, many working as indentured labourers. The Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901, Parliament of Australia was the facilitation instrument used to deport approximately 7,500 Pacific Islanders.

Up until 1911 approximately 30,000 Solomon Islanders were indentured labourers to Queensland, Fiji, Samoa and New Caledonia. The use of Pijin by churches and missionaries assisted in the spread of Pijin.

Pronunciation

Introductions

Nem blong me Charles = My name is Charles (The name that belongs to me is Charles)

Personal Pronouns

Address

Wea nao ples blong iu? Where is the place that belongs to you, (What is your address?)

Questions

(pointing to an object)

• Wanem nao datwan? What is that one?
• Haomas nao bae hem kostem me fo sendem wanfala erogram go long Japan How much will it cost me to send this letter to Japan?

Thanks

• Tanggio tumas fo helpem mi Thank you too much for helping me
• No wariwari. Hem oraet nomoa No worries. It is all right (no more).

Audio examples

• Good News - PIJIN (Religious readings)

References

1. ^ Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.) (2005). "Pijin, A language of Solomon Islands". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2008-10-12. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
2. William Churchill. (1911). "The Jargon of the Western pacific" (). Nature: International Weekly Journal of Science. 88. New York: AMS Pr.: 295. doi:10.1038/10.1038/088295a0. ISBN 0404141102.
3. ed Jeff Siegel (2000). Features and transformations of kinship terminology in Solomon Islands Pijin'. In Processes of Language Contact: Studies from Australia and the South Pacific. Montreal: Fides. pp. 99–122.
4. Christine Jourdan, Roger Keesing (1997). "From Pisin to Pijin: Creolization in process in the Solomon Islands" (). Language in Society. 26 (3): 401–420. doi:10.1017/S0047404500019527.
5. Borut Telban (1996). "Legitimacy of Solomon Islands Pijin" (). Anthropological Notebooks. 2 (1): 43–54.
6. Tracey Flanagan, Meredith Wilkie, Susanna Iuliano (2003). "A history of South Sea Islanders in Australia". Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. Retrieved 2008-10-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
7. Maggie Wateha'a. The Begiinners Pijin Handbook. Honiara: RAMSI. p. 3.

External links

• Ethnologue: Languages of the World (unknown ed.). SIL International.

• English-based pidgins and creoles
• Languages of the Solomon Islands