MELANESIAN PIDGIN

also called Melanesian Pidgin English, Neo-melanesian, Beach-la-mar, or Sandalwood English, an English-based pidgin that is used widely in Melanesia as a trade and mission language; in some areas it has become established as a creole (i.e., it has become the native language of some communities). Melanesian Pidgin has also become the lingua franca of Papua New Guinea, where several hundred native languages are spoken, most of them being mutually incomprehensible. The vocabulary of Melanesian Pidgin is originally derived primarily from English; about 1,500 English words make up approximately 90 percent of the language's small basic vocabulary, although words have in many cases widened or shifted their meanings, and compound words and other new constructions further enlarge the vocabulary. Grammar and syntax are also based on English patterns, although they have been much simplified and then somewhat modified through usage and through the influence of native Melanesian languages. Pronunciation and stress have clearly been affected by contact with non-English languages. Stress has been shifted to the first syllable of the word in all cases, resulting in forms such as bkos because, and msin machine; and the sound system has altered in that the sounds f and p, and s, sh, and ch are not distinguished (resulting in dispela this fellow, pinis finish, sap sharp, and sok chalk). Th is not pronounced as in English (it becomes t or d or occasionally r: dispela this fellow, tri three, arapela other fellow). Also, between two vowels, b and d often become mb and nd, respectively: tambak for tabak tobacco and sindaun for sidaun sit, sit down, set.