Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies -
Linguistics grade: 1 0 University of Duisburg-Essen language: English abstract: This essay
aims at taking a closer look at the Pacific pidgin Tok Pisin. Especially the development of the
pidgin into a creole will be considered in the following text. The chapter on the history of
Tok Pisin is preceded by an excursus on the conditions of language contact and the definition
and genesis of pidgins in general. The history and thus the development into a creole as well
as the current situation of Tok Pisin is completed with some examples of the lexicon of the
creole. Here I laid certain emphasis on the different origins of English influence on Tok Pisin
as the social backgrounds of those who introduced the first form of the pidgin the foreigner
talk are still reflected in the Tok Pisin vocabulary. Additionally I paid regard to the German
influence on the pidgin and the linguistically changed situation under Australian
administration after WWI. This part of the essay includes a brief paragraph on the
sociolinguistic conditions and the conscious use of speech acts with in the pidgin. Finally I
tried to give a rather short overview on the phonological and morphological features of Tok
Pisin as well as on its grammar.
