Introduction to Pidgin English Advertising

1
Introduction to Pidgin English Advertising
2
Pidgin English Advertising

• This article talks about a language called Tok
  Pisin which is spoken in Papua New Guinea.

3
Tok Pisin

• Tok Pisin is an example of a pidgin language
  which has become creolized.

4
A pidgin language

• Develops when speakers of different native
  languages learn a common language (a lingua
  franca) to be used in very limited circumstances.
• Around the world, pidgin languages have developed
  in trading situations, where people just need to
  communicate in order to trade goods.

5
Features of Pidgins

• Most of the lexical items (words) may be taken
  from one language, but the grammatical patterns
  may be taken from another.
• The grammar is extremely simplified compared to
  the grammar systems of most regular languages.

6
Examples of simplification of grammar

• No number agreement between noun and verb
• Past and future tenses are not marked on the
  verb, but are instead made with adverbs with
  meanings like already or tomorrow

7
Languages in Papua New Guinea

• Even though Papua New Guinea is not such a big
  place, more than 600 different languages are
  spoken there.
• About half of these are related to each other,
  but the other ones are unrelated.
• Most of the languages are only spoken by a few
  hundred or a few thousand people.

8
The beginning of pidgin

• In the 18OOs, New Guineas with different native
  languages went to work together on plantations
  run by European colonizers in Australia, Samoa,
  Fijii, and New Guinea.
• They didnt have a common language, so they used
  a form of Pacific English Jargon, a pidgin
  language used by traders in the South Pacific.

9

• A unique form of the pidgin developed, using
  English as a main source of vocabulary, but using
  the grammatical patterns of some common New
  Guinea languages. This was the start of Tok Pisin.

10

• When people went back to their villages, they
  still continued to use the pidgin because it was
  useful for communicating with neighbors who had a
  different language.
• Eventually, it became an expanded pidgin and it
  is becoming a creole.

11
Pidgin ? Creole

• A pidgin language is one that is used for only
  certain functions as a result, it doesnt need a
  big vocabulary or complicated grammar.

12

• However, when a pidgin starts to be used more
  widely, in more situations in daily life, it
  naturally becomes more complicated.
• More vocabulary items are added, and the rules of
  grammar become more complicated so that people
  can express their ideas more precisely.

13

• If this expanded language then becomes the first
  language of some people (for example, children
  whose parents have two different native languages
  and who use only pidgin as the language of the
  home), it is said to be a creole.

14
Tok Pisin

• Tok Pisin has greatly expanded from its original
  role as a language of traders or plantation
  workers.

15

• It is used as a common language by more than 40
  of the population, and it is used for a wide
  range of functions.
• It also has native speakers, children who learn
  it as their first language, and so it can now be
  considered a creole.

16
Pidgin English Advertising

• The reading for next week talks about the Tok
  Pisin and its use in newspapers and advertising
  in New Guinea.

17
After you read the article, think about these
questions

• Content questions 5, 6, and 8.
• Questions for Analysis and Discussion 1 and 3.

18
To hear Tok Pisin

• At the website below, you can hear a example of
  Tok Pisin
• http//www.lowlands-l.net/anniversary/tokpisin.php