Melanesian Pidgin English : Grammar, Texts, Vocabulary 0404141315, 9780404141318

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NUNC COCNOSCO EX PARTE

THOMAS J. BATA LIBRARY TRENT UNIVERSITY

Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation

https://archive.org/details/melanesianpidginOOOOhall

MELANESIAN PIDGIN ENGLISH GRAMMAR, TEXTS, VOCABULARY

AMS PRESS NEW YORK

SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE

LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA EDITED BY

BERNARD BLOCH Yale University KEMP MALONE Johns Hopkins University

M. B. EMENEAU University of California ROBERT A. HALL JR. Brown University

MELANESIAN PIDGIN ENGLISH GRAMMAR, TEXTS, VOCABULARY BY

ROBERT A. HALL JR. Assistant Professor of Italian, Brown University

With the collaboration of Gregoey Bateson

Margaret Mead

Phyllis M. Kaberry

Stephen W. Reed

John W. M. Whiting

Published by the LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA AT THE WAVERLY PRESS, INC.

Mount Royal and Guilford Avenues Baltimore, Md. 1943

44

W8C

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Hall, Robert Anderson, 1911Melanesian pidgin English. Reprint of the ed. published by the Linguistic Society of America at the Waverly Press, Baltimore, and issued in the Society’s Special publications series. Bibliography: p. 1. Neo-Melanesian language. I. Title. II. Series: Linguistic Society of America. Special publications. PM7891.Z9N44 1980 427'.9'93 75-35114 ISBN 0-404-14131-5

Copyright 1943 by The American Council of Learned Societies. Published by Arrangement with The American Council of Learned Societies.

Reprinted from the edition of 1943, Baltimore. [Trim size and text area of the original have been slightly altered in this edition. Original trim size: 17.2 x 25.3 cm; text area: 12.4 x 20.6 cm.]

MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

To LEONARD BLOOMFIELD

32152&

Your attention is called to the Appendix (Suggestions for Practical Use) on p. 159, which contains an explanation of the alphabet used in this book, and instructions for its use in simplified form when necessary.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 0. Introduction.

7

0.0. Purpose and Scope. 0.1. Melanesian Pidgin. 0.11. The Speech-Community. 0.12. Characteristics of the Language. 0.2. Descriptive Procedure. 0.21. Problems Involved. 0.22. The Order of Analysis. 0.23. Definition of Terms. 0.3. Acknowledgments. 0.31. Collaborators. 0.32. Critics. 0.33. Sponsors.

7 7 7 8 9 9 10 10 11 11 11 11

A. GRAMMAR I.

Phonology.,.

1.0. The Phonemes. 1.1. Vowels. 1.11. Vowel Length. 1.2. Semi-Vowels. 1.3. Consonants. 1.31. Labial Consonants. 1.32. Labio-Dental Consonants. 1.33. Dental Consonants. 1.34. Palatal Consonants. 1.35. Velar Consonants. 1.36. Laryngeal Consonant. 1.4. Syllabic Structure. 1.5. Occurrence of Phonemes. 1.51. Vowels. 1.52. Single Consonants. 1.53. Clusters of Two Consonants. 1.54. Clusters of Three Consonants. 1.6. Morphophonemic Alternation. 1.61. Absorption of Phoneme in Sandhi. 1.62. Use of Phoneme in Certain Positions. 1.7. Stress. 1.71. Ordinary. 1.72. Emphatic. 1.73. Caressive. 1.8. Intonation. 1.81. Declarative. 1.82. Imperative.

1

12 12 12 12 13 13 13 13 14 14 14 14 14 15 15 15 15 17 17 17 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 19

2

CONTENTS

1.83. Interrogative. 1.84. Potential-Dubitative. II. Morphology and Word-Formation. 2.0. The Word. 2.1. Bound Morphemes. 2.11. Adjectival Suffix. 2.12. Pronominal Suffix. 2.13. Verbal Suffixes. 2.14. Third-Person Predicate Marker. 2.2. Word-Compounding. 2.21. Nominal Compounds. 2.22. Adjectival Compounds. 2.23. Adverbial Compounds. 2.24. Verbal Compounds. III. Parts of Speech. 3.0. Criteria of Differentiation. 3.01. Morphological Characteristics. 3.02. Basic Relations of Words in Phrase. 3.03. Change of Function. 3.1. Nouns. 3.2. Adjectives. 3.21. Numerals. 3.22. Demonstratives and Indefinites. 3.23. Inclusive Adjective. 3.24. Interrogative Adjectives. 3.3. Pronouns. 3.31. First and Second Person. 3.32. Third Person. 3.33. Interrogative. 3.4. Verbs. 3.5. Adverbs. 3.51. Negative Adverb. 3.52. Interrogative Adverbs. 3.6. Prepositions. 3.7. Conjunctions. IV. Phrase Structure and Function. 4.0. The Phrase. 4.1. Nominal Phrases. 4.11. Attributive. 4.12. Partitive. 4.13. Copulative. 4.14. Clause as Noun. 4.15. Order of Elements. 4.2. Adjectival Phrases. 4.21. Preposition-Phrases. 4.22. Adjective + Adverb.

19 19 20 20 20 20 20 20 21 21 21 22 22 22 23 23 23 23 23 23 25 25 25 26 26 26 26 26 27 27 27 28 28 28 29 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30

CONTENTS

4.23. Numeral Phrases. 4.24. Predicate or Clause as Adjective. 4.3. Pronominal Phrases. 4.31. Enumerative. 4.32. Interrogative. 4.4. Verbal Phrases. 4.40. Types of Verbal Kernels. 4.41. Substantival Complements. 4.42. Adjectival Complements. 4.43. Verbal Complements. 4.44. Adverbial Complements. 4.45. Order of Elements. 4.5. Adverbial Phrases. 4.51. Preposition-Phrases. 4.52. Adverb + Adverb. 4.53. Predicate as Adverb. 4.6. Prepositional Phrases. 4.7. Conjunctional Phrases. V. Clause and Sentence Structure. 5.0. The Clause. 5.1. Full Clauses. 5.11. The Predicate. 5.12. The Subject. 5.13. Compound Subjects and Predicates. 5.2. Clause-Structure. 5.21. Actor-Action Clauses. 5.22. Equational Clauses. 5.23. Introductory Words. 5.3. Imperative Clauses. 5.4. Interrogative Clauses. 5.5. Minor Clauses. 5.51. ‘Elliptical’ Constructions. 5.52. Special Words or Formulas. 5.6. Combination of Clauses. 5.61. Parataxis. 5.62. Hypotaxis. 5.7. Style. VI. Sample Texts and Analyses. 6.0. Preliminary Remarks. 6.1. A Punitive Expedition. 6.11. Text and Inter linear Translation. 6.12. Free Translation. 6.13. Analysis. 6.2. Old Man and Child. 6.21. Text. 6.22. Free Translation. 6:23. Analysis.

3 31 31 31 31 31 31 31 32 32 32 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 34 35 35 35 35 36 36 36 36 36 37 37 37 37 37 37 38 38 38 39 40 40 40 40 40 40 43 43 43 43

4

CONTENTS

6.3. Yam 6.31. 6.32. 6.33.

Magic—Coconut Shell. Text. Free Translation. Analysis.

43 43 43 43

B. TEXTS VII. Texts Obtained from Melanesian Informants. 7.0. Preliminary Remarks. 7.1,2. Man and the Supernatural. 7.11. Black Magic. 7.12. Mourning. 7.13. Fairy-Story: Kundiang. 7.14. Fairy-Story: The Children and the Moon. 7.15. Snake Spirits. 7.16. Taboo Stones. 7.17. Premonitory Dreams. 7.18. A Twelve-Year-Old’s Dream. 7.19. Making of Magical Herbs. 7.20. Women and Ritual Carvings. 7.21. A Plant and a Magical Herb. 7.22. Spirits of the Ritual Carvings. 7.23. Magic for the House Tambaran. 7.24. The Purification of the Moon. 7.25. Hunting and Spirits of the Dead. 7.26. Guronggurong Helps Catch a Pig. 7.27. Dreams about Game. 7.3,4. Yam Magic. 7.31. Purification. 7.32. Preparatory Ceremony. 7.33. After Planting. 7.34. Propitiatory Sacrifice to Yam Spirits. 7.35. Ancestor Spirits in Yams. 7.36. Sexual Intercourse and Yams. 7.37. Spirits of the Dead and Yams. 7.38. Gift’s to Mother’s Relatives at Death. 7.39. Yams and Black Magic. 7.40. Tree Spirits in Yams. 7.41. An Ancestral Spell. 7.42. Description of Yam Magic. 7.43. Account of Yam Magic. 7.44. A Preparation of Ashes. 7.45. Magical Herbs. 7.46. Purchase and Use of Magical Herbs. 7.5, 6. Social Relations. 7.51. Complaints. 7.52. The Young Man and the Old.

45 45 45 45 45 45 46 47 48 48 48 48 48 49 49 49 49 49 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 51 51 51 51 51 52 52 52 52 52 53 53 53 53

53

CONTENTS

7.53. 7.54. 7.55. 7.56. 7.57. 7.58. 7.59. 7.60. 7.61. 7.62. 7.63.

Letter Dictated by a Native Woman Servant. Running Amok. The Narrator Runs Amok. Comment on Gossip about Adultery. Quarrel over Land Tenure. Quarrel between Relatives. Go Home!. A Dialogue. A Wife-Murder and a Suicide. Cavi’s Work-Experience. Homesickness.

5 53 54 55 55 55 55 55 55 56 61 77

VIII. Texts by English-Speaking Informants.

78

8.0. Preliminary Remarks. 8.1. Texts. 8.11. Killing a Pig. 8.12. A Funeral. 8.13. Fairy Tale. 8.14. Marriage. 8.15. Building a House. 8.16. The Piano Arrives. 8.17. Erotic Poem.

78 78 78 79 80 81 82 82 83

Texts by German Missionaries.

84

9.0. Preliminary Remarks. 9.1. Tok bilong Baibel: Nufelo Testament. 9.11. Angelo i bringim tok long Sakarias. 9.12. Angelo i bringim tok long Maria. 9.13. Maria i go lukim Elisabet. 9.14. Elisabet i karim Yohanes. 9.15. Maria i karim Yesus. 9.16. 01 wachman bilong shipship i adorim Yesus.

84 84 84 84 85 85 86 86

IX.

C. VOCABULARY X.

Pidgin-to-English Vocabulary.

88

10.0 Preliminary Remarks. 88 10.1. Vocabulary. 88 10.2. Glossary of non-Pidgin words occurring in Texts. 125 XI. English-to-Pidgen Glossary. 126 XII.

Bibliography.

158

Appendix: Suggestions for Practical Use.

159

0. INTRODUCTION

..

00

Purpose and Scope.

In this monograph -are summarized the results

of a study of Melanesian Pidgin carried out in 1942 under the auspices of the Intensive Language Program of the American Council of Learned Societies. In the three parts of the work, it is our intention to present a scientific analysis of the grammatical structure of Melanesian Pidgin, a representative body of texts furnished by different types of informants, and a listing of the basic ele¬ ments of the Melanesian Pidgin vocabulary, together with an English-to-Pidgin glossary, and a brief bibliography. The material and analysis furnished here must not be considered as more than a preliminary sketch.

Inasmuch as the project has had to be carried out far

from the localities where Melanesian Pidgin is actually spoken, and exclusively with English-speaking informants, whose knowledge of the language was gained mostly in the Sepik River region of New Guinea (cf. §0.31), the picture given here is of necessity a presentation of Melanesian Pidgin as spoken and taken down by English speakers in that region. Further investigation of a detailed nature is very much to be desired; it should be carried out on a geographical basis, with both English-speaking and Melane¬ sian informants interviewed at a number of points in Melanesia.

Such an in¬

quiry would undoubtedly yield much valuable additional information on the existence and distribution of further variants within the structure of Melanesian Pidgin; it would also cast light on the basic problems of bilingualism, linguistic substitution, and substratum theory.

..

01

Melanesian Pidgin is the name1 given to a communication and trade

pidgin or ‘minimum’ language used between white men and natives, and between natives who have no common speech of their own, in Melanesia: New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and neighboring island groups, and the Solomon Is¬ lands.

It is based upon English, but its grammatical structure and vocabulary

differ sufficiently from those of English to render it a separate language, not merely a simplified form of English. 0 11 The Speech-Community of Melanesian Pidgin is discontinuous and

. .

non-homogeneous.

The total number of speakers is unknown.

The basic

divisions of race, social status, and linguistic substratum separate the speakers of Melanesian Pidgin into two main dialectal groups: 1. Melanesian speakers, natives of the region, with a linguistic background of native languages

(‘Melanesian’ or

‘Papuan’).

These speakers customarily

learn Melanesian Pidgin either as a status language on entering upon indentured service in white settlements or establishments, or as a childhood play-activity.2 In these speakers’ usage there are undoubtedly marked geographical variants, as yet insufficiently investigated. 1 The name Beach-la-Mar is also frequently applied to Melanesian Pidgin; however, as this term is often somewhat loosely used and extended to include also other South Sea pid¬ gins such as Australian and Filipino (cf. the usage in Churchill’s monograph [§12.4], etc.), it is best to avoid it, for the sake of clarity. *Cf. M. Mead, ‘Talk-Boy’ (§12.6).

7

8

INTRODUCTION

2. European speakers, who come to Melanesia from elsewhere, and stay for shorter or longer periods of time, learning Pidgin during their stay. This group falls further into two major sub-divisions and one minor residual group: i. British English speakers, whose native dialect of English is that of the British Isles or some dialect related thereto (especially Australian English). ii. American English speakers, and iii. Speakers of other European languages, mostly German Catholic or Luth¬ eran missionaries. At the present time, Melanesian Pidgin is not learned as a first or native lan¬ guage by any speakers, save possibly some children of marriages between Mela¬ nesians who have no language in common save Melanesian Pidgin. 0.12. Characteristics of the Language. In the absence of any native speakers or of a standard form’of Pidgin, usage is not completely fixed or con¬ sistent even in the speech of any one individual. Further, the native speech of any speaker is frequently reflected in his use of Pidgin: cf. Melanesian speakers’ nasalization of voiced plosives (§1.3); English speakers’ accentuation of words in accordance with the accent of the English etyma: bilby ‘of’ etc. (§1.71.2); German speakers’ evident confusion of the phonemes a, as, and e (as shown in their orthography, cf. §9, passim) or their use of tsesol: Jesus tsesol i-spik ‘Jesus aber sprach’. 1. The phonetics of Melanesian Pidgin are basically those of a slightly sub¬ standard English (cf. the absence of 6, 3, z, z). Melanesian speakers usually simplify the consonant system by not using six of the twenty consonant pho¬ nemes (§1.0) and simplify most consonant clusters by the intercalation of vowels (§1.53). Stress and intonation patterns are fundamentally similar to those of English, with the addition of a special ‘caressive’ stress (§1.73) and a special ‘potential-dubitative’ intonation (§1.84). 2. The grammar is essentially similar to that of English, though with a, few basic and many superficial differences. i. The parts of speech are the same as those of English, except that conjunc¬ tions (§3.7) and conjunctional phrases (§4.7) are very poorly developed and as yet in a transitional, formative stage. Melanesian Pidgin has none of the bound forms of standard English; it has, however, developed several new bound forms (§2.1): the adjective- and pronoun-suffix -fete, the adverbial verb-suffixes -awt -dp and -we, the objective verb-suffix -im, and the third-person predicatemarker i-. The number system in nouns and tense system in verbs characteris¬ tic of ‘Standard Average European’ is absent; a kind of perfective aspect is formed in verbs by the use of the adverbial modifier fmi§ ‘already’: cm i-kdm fimS ‘he has come’. ii. Phrase-structure is somewhat more analytical than that of standard Eng¬ lish; some new phrase-types have been developed, e.g. nominal phrases with nonadjectival attributes following the noun modified (§4.11.2): haws kiap ‘govern¬ ment official’s house’, haws kuk ‘cook-house’; pronominal enumerative phrases (§4.31): mi tufcb (trifcb etc.) ‘the two (three etc.) of us’, mifcb olbgcddr ‘all of us’; verbal phrases involving repetition of the main verb (§4.40): mifcb go go go ‘we keep on going’, etc.

INTRODUCTION

9

iii. Sentence-structure is basically similar to that of standard English. The essential elements of clauses are subject and predicate. The predicate has greater importance and independence than in English, as it may be used alone in indefinite reference (§5.11.4) and also as the equivalent of an adjectival or adverbial phrase (§§4.23, 4.45.3). In addition to the actor-action type of clause, the equational clause is a favorite major-clause type in Pidgin (§5.22): cm i-gudfeh ‘he is good’. iv. Style is much simpler than that of English or any European language. Simple clauses'" are the normal unit of utterance, and complex utterances are rare. Discourse is often knitted together by the device of repeating, before beginning an utterance, the verbal kernel of the preceding utterance, usually in the perfective aspect (§5.7). 3. The vocabulary3 is essentially based on that of standard English. A count of the approximately one thousand words of the vocabulary shows that about sixty percent of the words are used in standard English in nearly the same range of meaning and function. About fifteen percent of the vocabulary is also of standard English origin, but with changed meaning or function, or formed by fusion of two or more original elements (e.g. ndmel ‘the middle’ < in the middle, etc.). Ten percent of the vocabulary is formed by new compounds made in Melanesian Pidgin (e.g. bigmaws ‘insolent’); one percent is derived from provincial English (e.g. buS ‘bush; forest; backwoods’), and two percent from sub-standard English (e.g. ars ‘bottom [of anything]’). Only twelve per¬ cent of the vocabulary is of non-English origin: ten percent is derived from non-Europea'n (Melanesian, Polynesian, Malay, etc.) sources (e.g. kajkaj ‘eat’, etc.); one percent is derived from German (e.g. raws ‘get out’), and a scattering of words are from Romance (pikinini ‘child’, ssevi ‘know’) and other sources. 0.2. Descriptive Procedure. In presenting the grammatical analysis, the following problems have been encountered and procedures adopted. 0.21. Problems Involved. As pointed out above (§0.12), in tip absence of native speakers, Pidgin does not present the same constant features of pro¬ nunciation and grammatical usage as do major languages; this lack of full con¬ sistency extends not only to pronunciation, which is influenced strongly by any speaker’s native speech habits, but even to such basic features of grammatical structure as the use of bound forms (§2.1) and predicate-markers (§5.11.4). It is not possible to consider either English or Melanesian speakers’ usage as furnishing exclusively valid material for analysis; it is therefore necessary, es¬ pecially in formulating phonemic structure, to devise formulae to cover the usage of the three main groups of speakers: Melanesian, British English, Amer¬ ican English.*"a Discussed in more detail in the author’s article The Vocabulary of Melanesian Pidgin English, to be published in American Speech. 4 For example, if we were to take the usage of Melanesian speakers alone as a criterion, we should not include the phonemes /, v, 8, 6, fj, h, which are, however, normally distin¬ guished by English speakers.

It is the usage of American English speakers, plus British

English speakers’ treatment of ar, that leads us to distinguish a from a. B’s viewpoint on the relative authority of the various groups of speakers differs consid-

10

INTRODUCTION

0.22. The Order of Analysis is, as may be seen in the table of contents, that customary in grammatical treatment, proceeding from lesser to greater units of speech: phonology, morphology, word-formation, phrase-formation, and clause-formation or syntax. Within these basic divisions, such further sub¬ divisions have been established as the material calls for. 0.23. Definition of Terms.

In this section are included such terms and

abbreviations as are used in the grammar and vocabulary, or call for special explanation.

1. Non-Grammatical Terms: American English speakers, British English speakers, European speakers, Melanesian speakers—see §0.11. Pidgin = Melanesian Pidgin. 2. Grammatical Terms. Those taken from current linguistic terminology (especially as exemplified in L. Bloomfield’s Language [New York, 1933]) are used in their customary meaning. The term quasi-compounding is used to describe the type of formation exemplified by Eng. cranberry or Pidgin skrudrajvor ‘screw-driver’, in which one element, although devoid of separate mean¬ ing in the language being described (Eng. cran-, Pidgin -drajvor), combines with a word of identifiable meaning (Eng. berry, Pidgin skru ‘screw’) to form a new word similar to normal compounds. 3. Abbreviations: = ‘is equal to, consists of’ aa ‘actor-action’ adj ‘adjective, -al(ly)’ adv ‘adverb, -ial(ly)’ am ‘agent-marker’ attrib ‘attribute’ cl ‘clause, clausular expression’ compl ‘complement’ conj ‘conjunction, -al(ly)’ cpd ‘compound’ ctr ‘center’ dir ‘direct’

eq ‘equational’ imper ‘imperative’ indef ‘indefinite’ intr ‘intransitive, -ly’ introd ‘introductory’ m-cl ‘minor-clause’ n ‘noun, nominal(ly)’ neg ‘negative’ num ‘numeral’ obj ‘object, -ive(ly)’ pers ‘person, -al(ly)’ phr ‘phrase’

erably from the author’s, and is summarized in the following (quoted by permission of Prof. J. M. Cowan): ‘Hall’s informants were necessarily Americans and Englishmen, and the question arises as to whether these should be treated as “native speakers” or whether, in dealing with such informants, one should try to make decisions about “right” and “wrong”.

Hall took the

position that Pidgin English is a lingua franca between whites and natives, and therefore assumed that his informants could not be wrong.

I took the position that Pidgin English

is primarily a lingua franca used on plantations, etc., between natives of different linguistic groups, and I regarded this language as the orthodox Pidgin, which the whites try to learn, with varying degrees of success. ‘This difference in our premises has the result that Hall included in his vocabulary a con¬ siderable number (perhaps 5% to 10%) of words of English origin which I, personally, should not use in talking to a native, because I would bet five to one against the native’s knowing these words.’

INTRODUCTION PL ‘Pijin Lexikon’ (cf. §0.31)

q-cpd ‘quasi-compound’

pm ‘predicate-marker (third person) ’

subj ‘subject’

pred ‘predicate, -ive(ly)’

suff ‘suffix’

prep ‘preposition, -al(ly)’

tr ‘transitive, -ly’

pron ‘pronoun, pronominal (ly)’

vb ‘verb, -al(ly)’

11

0.3. Acknowledgments are due to the following who have contributed to the preparation and publication of this work: 0.31. Collaborators, who are indicated as sources of information, and in

sections 6, 7, and 8 as sources of texts, by the initial letters of their names, and who are here listed together with an indication of their native linguistic back¬ ground and of the regions where they acquired their knowledge of Pidgin: Bateson, Gregory: British English; ‘mostly Sepik (Iatmul) built on top of Rabaul, Baining, and Sulka’. Kaberry, Phyllis M.: British (partly Australian) English; Sepik (Abelam). Mead, Margaret: American English; 'Manus majorly, with a top dressing of Sepik and Aitape’. Reed, Stephen W.: American English; Sepik (Kwoma). Whiting, John W. M.: American English; Sepik (Kwoma). The material on which the grammatical analysis is based was mostly furnished by K, R, and W in interviews.

Their contribution to the work far exceeds that

of the ordinary informant, extending to very perceptive and valuable discussion of the material and its analysis, and in many respects has given the project the character of a group undertaking.

A German missionary text in typescript

(Tok bilong Baibel: Nufelo Testament—cf. the sections reproduced in §9) and a microfilm reproduction of a Pijin Lexikon, both prepared by German Catholic missionaries in the Sepik region, were furnished by R at the beginning of the study, and were invaluable aids in the early stages of the work; moreover, the Pijin Lexikon, examined and sifted by W, has served as a source for many of the words listed in the Vocabulary.

B and M subjected the whole grammar and

part of the vocabulary to a thorough examination and discussion, giving many valuable corrections and additions.

Texts taken down in the* course of field

work in Melanesia were furnished by B, K, M, and R; these, in phonemic tran¬ scription, have been included in sections 6 and 7. 0.32. Critics.

Thanks for their interest and willingness to read the first

draft of the work, and to offer suggestions for its improvement, are due to Pro¬ fessors Bernard Bloch, Leonard Bloomfield, J. M. Cowan, Geoffrey Gorer, George Herzog, Hans Kurath, Hortense Powdermaker, and George L. Trager. In addition to the above, many of the author’s colleagues at Brown University, and his wife and parents, have contributed valuable suggestions. 0.33. Sponsors.

The American Council of Learned Societies, in its Intensive

Language Program, gave the initial impetus to the undertaking of this project, and has made grants-in-aid towards the completion of the study and its publi¬ cation.

Prof. George P. Murdock of Yale University was instrumental in

getting the project under way and in assisting the writer to make contact with informants and sources of material.

The Linguistic Society of America has

included the completed work in its series of Special Publications.

A. GRAMMAR I. PHONOLOGY

..

1 0 The Phonemes of Melanesian Pidgin are: thirty-one linear phonemes (eleven vowels and twenty consonants); three non-linear phonemes of stress; and four non-linear phonemes of intonation.1 The sounds of the linear phonemes resemble in general those of the corresponding phonemes in English. Of the twenty consonants, six are normally not used by Melanesian speakers, whereas English speakers use them with their customary sounds.

..

11

Vowels

are shown

in

Table

I.

Table

I:

Vowels

i

u

a

SB

A brief description of the vowels, with examples of their occurrence in words> follows: Vowel u u 0 0

a 9

se £ e 1

i

Pronunciation high-back tense rounded high-back lax rounded mid-back tense rounded mid-back lax rounded low-middle mid-mixed2 low-front mid-front lax unrounded mid-front tense unrounded high-front lax unrounded high-front tense unrounded

Example tus ‘tooth’ kuk ‘cook’ go ‘go’ hy ‘with’ bakis ‘box’; hard nsmbsrwdn ‘first’ hsen ‘hand’ bsl ‘belly, heart’ mek ‘make, do’ tin ‘tin’ slip ‘sleep’

Unaccented vowels are not slurred or reduced toward [9]. 1 11 Vowel Length is not significant phonemically. In accented syllables,

. .

1 No discussion of juncture is given, because detailed information as to Melanesian speakers’ habits in this respect is not available. 2 Everywhere except before r, 9 is pronounced by American speakers as [A] in accented and [a] in unaccented position, whereas British and Melanesian speakers pronounce it [a]. The combination ar is sounded by American speakers as [ar], [ar], or [3], according to the sound in their native dialect; by British speakers as [3]; by Melanesian speakers as [ar] or [ar].

12

13

GRAMMAR

non-phonemic lengthening, often of extreme duration,3 with tensing and (in the case of /and u) slight raising, takes place under emphatic stress (§1.72) :ilbi:gfeh ‘(very) big’; "oZa1 lmasn! ‘good heavens!’, etc. Lengthening may also take place occasionally (but not consistently) in the usage of those speakers who do not pronounce postvocalic r (§1.33.5): hard [ha:d], kart [ka:t]. 1.2. Semi-Vowels are j and w, i.e. i and u in non-syllabic function. Pho¬ netically, the semi-vowels are consonants wThen they begin a syllable: ju ‘you’, sejo ‘a kind of spinach’; wonem ‘what, wThat kind, why’, diwaj ‘wood, tree’. When they end a syllable, or precede another consonant ending a syllable, they form diphthongs, phonetically speaking, with the preceding vowel; they are, however, at all times to be interpreted phonemically as consonants: daj ‘die’, fajn ‘seek’; bulmdkaw ‘bovine animal’, dawn ‘down’. 1.3. Consonants are shown in Table II. A brief description of the consonants follows, with examples (so far as they are available) of their occurrence in initial, medial, and final position. Table II: Consonants Labial

Plosive Nasal

Unvoiced Voiced Voiced Unvoiced

Fricative

Voiced

Sibilant

Unvoiced Unvoiced Voiced Voiced Voiced Unvoiced

Affricate Trill Lateral Aspiration

LabioDental

p b m

Dental Palatal

Velar

t

k

d n

g rj

Laryngeal

f v s

S c

0

Voiced plosives at the beginning of a syllable (in initial and medial position) are often pre-nasalized (i.e. pronounced with opening of the nasal passages dur¬ ing the first part of the consonant) by Melanesian speakers whose native lan¬ guage has such phonemes: ndbawt [na-mbawt] ‘about’; sidawn [si-°dawn] ‘sit’. This pre-nasalization is often imitated and reproduced by European speakers as the prefixation of a homorganic nasal: tambu ‘taboo’, etc. 1.31. Labial Consonants: 1. p, unvoiced labial plosive: put ‘put’; papa ‘father’; Sip ‘ship’. 2. b, voiced labial plosive: buk ‘book’; ndbawt ‘about’. 3. m, voiced labial nasal: mama ‘mother’; ksm ‘come’. 1.32. Labio-Dental Consonants: 1. /, unvoiced labio-dental fricative: fmiS ‘already’; imfim ‘satisfy’; hsef ‘piece’. s Extending to approximately four or five morae, according to M, who considers this vowel-lengthening as semantically equivalent to the repetition of the verb in a verbal phrase (§4.40).

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MELANESIAN PIDGIN ENGLISH

2. v, voiced labio-dental fricative (rare in initial position, occurring only in non-English or learned English borrowings)’: virgo ‘virgin’; bilivim ‘believe’; stov ‘stove’. These two consonants are normally replaced by Melanesian speakers with a bilabial plosive [p] or fricative [\:fmi§ [pirns,