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Tok Pisin, a dialect of Melanesian Pidgin, is currently the most widely spoken language in Papua New Guinea and also one of three designated national languages. It has an estimated 3 to 5 million speakers. Most of these speak it as a second or auxiliary language, but there is now a considerable population of first language speakers (up to 500,000). Sister dialects are spoken in neighbouring countries in the south west Pacific, Namely Pijin in the Solomon Islands and Bislama in Vanuatu (See Meyerhoff, this volume). |
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