This article should specify the language of its non-English content, using {{lang}}, {{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and {{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriate ISO 639 code. Wikipedia's multilingual support templates may also be used - notably tpi for Tok Pisin. See why.(July 2021)
Tok Pisin
Pronunciation
[tokpisin][1]
Native to
Papua New Guinea
Native speakers
130,000 (2004–2016)[2] L2 speakers: 4,000,000[2]
Language family
English Creole
Pacific
Melanesian Pidgin
Tok Pisin
Writing system
Latin script (Tok Pisin alphabet) Pidgin Braille
Official status
Official language in
Papua New Guinea
Language codes
ISO 639-2
tpi
ISO 639-3
tpi
Glottolog
tokp1240
Linguasphere
52-ABB-cc
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
A Tok Pisin speaker, recorded in Taiwan
Tok Pisin (English: /tɒkˈpɪsɪn/TOKPISS-in,[3][4]/tɔːk,-zɪn/tawk, -zin;[5] Tok Pisin [tokpisin][1]), often referred to by English speakers as New Guinea Pidgin or simply Pidgin, is a creole language spoken throughout Papua New Guinea. It is an official language of Papua New Guinea and the most widely used language in the country. However, in parts of the southern provinces of Western, Gulf, Central, Oro, and Milne Bay, the use of Tok Pisin has a shorter history and is less universal, especially among older people.
Between five and six million people use Tok Pisin to some degree, although not all speak it fluently. Many now learn it as a first language, in particular the children of parents or grandparents who originally spoke different languages (for example, a mother from Madang and a father from Rabaul). Urban families in particular, and those of police and defence force members, often communicate among themselves in Tok Pisin, either never gaining fluency in a local language (tok ples) or learning a local language as a second (or third) language, after Tok Pisin (and possibly English). Over the decades, Tok Pisin has increasingly overtaken Hiri Motu as the dominant lingua franca among town-dwellers.[6] Perhaps one million people now use Tok Pisin as a primary language. Tok Pisin is slowly "crowding out" other languages of Papua New Guinea.[7][6]
^ abSmith 2008.
^ abTok Pisin at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
^Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student's Handbook, Edinburgh
^"Tok Pisin | Definition of Tok Pisin in English by Oxford Dictionaries". Oxford Dictionaries | English. Archived from the original on September 24, 2018. Retrieved 2018-09-24.
^"Definition of Tok Pisin". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
^ abMühlhäusler, Peter; Dutton, Thomas Edward; Romaine, Suzanne (2003). Tok Pisin: Texts from the Beginning to the Present. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins. pp. 1–5. ISBN 9781282255319.
^A.V. (24 July 2017). "Papua New Guinea's incredible linguistic diversity". The Economist. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
TokPisin (English: /tɒk ˈpɪsɪn/ TOK PISS-in, /tɔːk, -zɪn/ tawk, -zin; TokPisin [tokpisin]), often referred to by English speakers as New Guinea Pidgin...
adapted into creoles such as TokPisin, Torres Strait Creole and Unserdeutsch. Languages with statutory recognition are TokPisin, English, Hiri Motu, and...
of Australia). Officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea (TokPisin: Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; Hiri Motu: Independen Stet bilong...
with the language. Instead of using the Kove language, many of them use TokPisin as their daily language. Although in the past the Kove people had contact...
to TokPisin, although even Tolai suffers from a surfeit of loanwords from TokPisin; e.g. the original kubar has been completely usurped by the Tok Pisin...
also the mother tongue of many people in Guinea-Bissau.[citation needed] TokPisin is widely spoken in Papua New Guinea as a lingua franca. It developed...
places where they are spoken. For example, the name of the creole language TokPisin derives from the English words talk pidgin. Its speakers usually refer...
LGBT is an initialism that stands for "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender". It may refer to anyone who is non-heterosexual, non-heteroromantic, or...
Pidgin) is a language spoken in Solomon Islands. It is closely related to TokPisin of Papua New Guinea and Bislama of Vanuatu; these might be considered...
New Guinea as a lingua franca. The substrate language is assumed to be TokPisin, while the majority of the lexicon is from German. German was the language...
in TokPisin as Nambawan pikinini bilong Misis Kwin ("The first child of Mrs Queen"). Members of the royal family have often spoken in TokPisin while...
Bougainville Island (TokPisin: Bogenvil) is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. Its land area...
Bougainville (/ˈboʊɡənvɪl/ BOH-gən-vil; TokPisin: Bogenvil), officially the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (TokPisin: Otonomos Region bilong Bogenvil)...
of Papuan languages. There are several creoles of the region, such as TokPisin, Hiri Motu, Solomon Islands Pijin, Bislama, and Papuan Malay. The origin...
name of the language has two parts – toki ('language'), derived from TokPisintok, which itself comes from English talk; and pona ('good/simple'), from...
languages along parts of the coast, and recently developed creoles such as TokPisin, Hiri Motu, Unserdeutsch, and Papuan Malay. The term "Papuan" is used...
Tok or TOK may refer to: TokPisin, a creole language from Papua New Guinea Toki Pona (ISO 639-3 code), a constructed language Barış Tok (born 1978), Turkish...
Port Moresby (/ˈmɔːrzbi/; TokPisin: Pot Mosbi), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea....
among these are TokPisin and Hiri Motu in Papua New Guinea. They are now both considered distinct creole languages. Use of TokPisin is growing. It is...
by TokPisin. Even in the areas where it was once well established as a lingua franca, the use of Hiri Motu has been declining in favour of TokPisin and...
TokPisin "kanu i bagarap", Brokan "kenu i bagarap", "the canoe is broken" or TokPisin/Brokan "kaikai i bagarap", "the food is spoiled". TokPisin "mi...
1978. Brash wrote plays for stage and radio in a combination of English, TokPisin, and Hiri Motu, satirically dealing with conflicts between urban and rural...
reside in Hela Province of Papua New Guinea. They speak mainly Huli and TokPisin; many also speak some of the surrounding languages, and some also speak...
pronouns – those that do and do not include their audience. For example, TokPisin has seven first-person pronouns according to number (singular, dual, trial...
early plantation pidgin is the origin not only of Bislama, but also of TokPisin in Papua New Guinea, and Pijin of the Solomon Islands; though not of Torres...
prevalent among traditional tribes is the belief in spirits (masalai in TokPisin) representing natural forces. In the 2018 census, 37% of New Zealanders...
Global Information
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