Tok Pisin is used to some extent in the media and for government issues, though English is still preferred in these contexts. In some schools Tok Pisin is the language of instruction in the first three years of elementary education.
Its vocabulary is about 5/6 Indo-European and 1/6 Austronesian languages; its grammar is built on a simple pidgin grammar, with various irregularities.
The verb has one suffix, -im to indicate transitivity (luk, look; lukim, see). But some verbs, such as kaikai "eat", can be transitive without it. Tense is indicated by the separate words bai (future) and bin (past). The progressive tense is indicated by the word stap - eating is kaikai stap.
The noun does not indicate number, though pronouns do.
Adjectives usually take the suffix -pela when modifying nouns; an exception is liklik "little". Liklik can also be used as an adverb meaning "slightly", as in dispela bikpela liklik ston, "this slightly big stone".
Pronouns show person, number, and exclusion:
| 1 | 2i | 2e | 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | mi | - | yu | em |
| Dual | mitupela | yumitupela | yutupela | tupela |
| Plural | mipela | yumi | yupela | ol |
Reduplication is very common in Tok Pisin. Sometimes it is used as a method of derivation; sometimes words just have it. Some words are distinguished only by reduplication: sip "ship", sipsip "sheep".
There are only two proper prepositions: bilong, which means "of" or "for", and long, which means everything else. Some phrases are used as prepositions, such as long namel (bilong), "in the middle of".
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2 References 3 External links |
Tok Pisin can sound very colourful in its use of words, which are derived from English (with Australian influences), indigenous Melanesian languages, German (part of the country was under German rule until 1919) and even Portuguese. (However, Tok Pisin is often ridiculed as 'baby talk' or 'broken English'.) For example, the word for 'moustache' is mausgras - literally 'mouth grass'. A sentence in Tok Pisin, once displayed in an aeroplane, read:
Sapos baus bagarapim, rausim fols tits bilong yu.
A bibliography of Tok Pisin dictionaries, phrase books and study guides
Revising the Mihalic Project
Tok Pisin page at the SIL ethnologue
Radio Australia Tok Pisin serviceVocabulary
If the aeroplane crashes, remove your false teeth. References
External links
" class="external">http://THSlone.tripod.com/MPEB.html#tokpisin
Tok Pisin / Pidgin / English Online Dictionary
This" class="external">http://www.calibercreations.com/pisin/
This site will serve as an aid for those who wish to learn a bit of Tok Pisin.
" class="external">http://coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/PNG/MIHALIC/Index.htm
Collaborative internet project to revise and update Fr. Frank Mihalic's Grammar and Dictionary of Neo-Melanesian. An illustrated online dictionary of Tok Pisin.
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=PDG
http://www.abc.net.au/ra/tokpisin/