Tok Pisin is one of the most important languages of Melanesia and is used in a wide range of public and private functions in Papua New Guinea. The language has featured prominently in Pidgin and Creole linguistics and has featured in a number of debates in theoretical linguistics. With their extensive fieldwork experience and vast knowledge of the archives relating to Papua New Guinea, Peter Mühlhäusler, Thomas E. Dutton and Suzanne Romaine compiled this Tok Pisin text collection. It brings together representative samples of the largest Pidgin language of the Pacific area. These texts represent about 150 years of development of this language and will be an invaluable resource for researchers, language policy makers and individuals interested in the history of Papua New Guinea.

Table of contents

Sociohistorical and grammatical aspects of Tok Pisin Peter Mühlhäusler 1 I. From early contacts and Gut Taim Bilong Siaman: (the Good Old Days of the German Administration) 35 II. Indigenous voices 1920–1945 57 III. The use of Tok Pisin by missions and government 65 IV. Indigenous voices 1950–1970 79 V. Traditional indigenous voices 1970 to the present 87 VI. Translations of foreign voices 151 VII. Urban Tok Pisin and the influence of English 181 VIII. New written genres 213 IX. Creolized varieties of Tok Pisin 267 Bibliography 281