Linguistic and Educational Aspects of Tok Pisin

Abstract

Tok Pisin (or New Guinea Pidgin) is the dialect of Melanesian Pidgin spoken in Papua New Guinea (PNG). It serves as the main language of wider communication in a country where over 800 separate indigenous languages are spoken by a population of approximately 4.5 million. The two other dialects of Melanesian Pidgin are Pijin, spoken in Solomon Islands (with over 80 indigenous languages and a population of around 390,000), and Bislama spoken in Vanuatu (over 100 languages, population 190,000). Torres Strait Creole (also known as Yumpla Tok) - spoken by approximately 10,000 people around the northern tip of eastern Australia - is closely related to Melanesian Pidgin but usually considered to be a separate language.