Norf'k placenames and creole toponymy

Abstract

In this short note I consider the role toponyms in the creole or language contact environment can play in helping creolists understand the nature of lexical change and social and ecological adaptation in small (island) contact languages. The toponyms I discuss are from the language of Norfolk Island (South Pacific), officially written 'Norf'k' since 2004 after the establishment of the Norfolk Island Language (Norf'k) Act 2004 (Administration of Norfolk Island 2004). This is an endangered contact language (Garrett 2006, UNESCO 2007) I have worked on during several fieldwork stints over several years. I analyze the acceptability of variant placename forms given by native speakers of a select corpus of Norf'k toponyms, toponyms which are grammatically quite distinct from English toponyms.