Tok Pisin

E49351

Tok Pisin is an English-based creole language widely spoken in Papua New Guinea, where it serves as a major lingua franca and one of the country’s primary official languages.

Aliases (2)

Statements (49)
Predicate Object
instanceOf English-based creole
creole language
language of Papua New Guinea
lingua franca
alternativeName Melanesian Pidgin
New Guinea Pidgin
closelyRelatedTo Bislama
Pijin
countryOrRegion Papua New Guinea
developedFrom English-based pidgins used in the Pacific
developedIn 19th century
plantation and trade contexts in the Pacific
glottocode tokp1240
hasBibleTranslation yes
hasFeature SVO basic word order
adjectives often follow nouns
extensive use of compounding and periphrasis
inclusive and exclusive first person plural distinction
many idiomatic calques from English
many lexical items derived from English
plural marking with "ol"
prepositions derived from English words
productive reduplication
pronoun system distinct from English
reduced inflectional morphology
relatively simple phonology compared to English
use of preverbal tense-aspect-mood markers
hasRole national lingua franca of Papua New Guinea
hasSubstrateInfluenceFrom Austronesian languages
Papuan languages
ISO639-1Code tpi
ISO639-3Code tpi
languageFamily English-based creole languages
officialStatusIn Papua New Guinea
primaryLexifierLanguage English
spokenAsFirstLanguageBy growing number of urban Papua New Guineans
spokenAsSecondLanguageBy majority of Papua New Guinea population
spokenBy indigenous populations of Papua New Guinea
urban populations in Papua New Guinea
usedAs language of wider communication in Papua New Guinea
usedFor interethnic communication in Papua New Guinea
usedIn education in Papua New Guinea
government in Papua New Guinea
media in Papua New Guinea
newspapers in Papua New Guinea
parliamentary debates in Papua New Guinea
radio broadcasting in Papua New Guinea
religious services in Papua New Guinea
writingSystem Latin script


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