Tok Pisin#Grammar

File:F. Mihatlic SVD The Jacaranda Dictionary and Grammar of Melanesian Pidgin.jpg

File:Tok-Pisin New-Guinea-Pidgin Pidgin-English Melanesian-Pidgin Papua-New-Guinea-Hotel-Room-Door-Sign (DSC 3096).jpg

{{lang|tpi|Tok}} originates from English talk, but has a wider application, also meaning 'word, speech, language'. {{lang|tpi|Pisin}} derives from the English word pidgin; the latter, in turn, may originate in the word business, which is descriptive of the typical development and use of pidgins as inter-ethnic trade languages.

While Tok Pisin's name in the language is {{lang|tpi|Tok Pisin}}, it is also called "New Guinea Pidgin"{{sfn|Nupela Testamen bilong Bikpela Jisas Kraist|1969}} in English. Papua New Guinean anglophones often call Tok Pisin "Pidgin" when speaking English.{{notetag|The published court reports of Papua New Guinea refer to Tok Pisin as "Pidgin": see for example Schubert v The State [1979] PNGLR 66.}} This usage of "Pidgin" differs from the term pidgin (language) as used in linguistics. Tok Pisin is not a pidgin in the latter sense, since it has become a first language for many people (rather than simply a lingua franca to facilitate communication with speakers of other languages). As such, it is considered a creole in linguistic terminology.{{notetag|See the [http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/tokp1240 Glottolog entry for Tok Pisin] (itself evidence that the linguistic community considers it a language in its own right, and prefers to name it Tok Pisin), as well as numerous references therein.}}

The Tok Pisin language is a result of Pacific Islanders intermixing, when people speaking numerous different languages were sent to work on plantations in Queensland and various islands (see South Sea Islander and blackbirding). The labourers began to develop a pidgin, drawing vocabulary primarily from English, but also from German, Malay, Portuguese, and their own Austronesian languages (perhaps especially Kuanua, that of the Tolai people of East New Britain).

This English-based pidgin evolved into Tok Pisin in German New Guinea (where the German-based creole Unserdeutsch was also spoken). It became a widely used lingua franca and language of interaction between rulers and ruled, and among the ruled themselves who did not share a common vernacular. Tok Pisin and the closely related Bislama in Vanuatu and Pijin in the Solomon Islands, which developed in parallel, have traditionally been treated as varieties of a single Melanesian Pidgin English or "Neo-Melanesian" language. The flourishing of the mainly English-based Tok Pisin in German New Guinea (despite the language of the metropolitan power being German) contrasts with Hiri Motu, the lingua franca of Papua, which was derived not from English but from Motu, the vernacular of the indigenous people of the Port Moresby area.

Along with English and Hiri Motu, Tok Pisin is one of Papua New Guinea's three official languages. It is frequently the language of debate in the national parliament. Most government documents are produced in English, but public information campaigns are often partially or entirely in Tok Pisin. While English is the main language in the education system, some schools use Tok Pisin in the first three years of elementary education to promote early literacy.

There are considerable variations in vocabulary and grammar in various parts of Papua New Guinea, with distinct dialects in the New Guinea Highlands, the north coast of Papua New Guinea, and islands outside of New Guinea. For example, Pidgin speakers from Finschhafen speak rather quickly and often have difficulty making themselves understood elsewhere. The variant spoken on Bougainville and Buka is moderately distinct from that of New Ireland and East New Britain but is much closer to that than it is to the Pijin spoken in the rest of the Solomon Islands.

There are 4 sociolects of Tok Pisin:

1. {{lang|tpi|Tok Bus}} (meaning "talk of the remote areas") or {{lang|tpi|Tok Kanaka}} (meaning "talk of the people of the remote areas")
2. {{lang|tpi|Tok Bilong Asples}} (meaning "language of the villages"), the traditional rural Tok Pisin
3. {{lang|tpi|Tok Skul}} (meaning "talk of the schools") or {{lang|tpi|Tok Bilong Taun}} (meaning "talk of the Towns"), the urban Tok Pisin
4. {{lang|tpi|Tok Masta}} (meaning "language of the colonizers", unsystematically simplified English with some Tok Pisin words{{cite book |last1=Mühlhäusler |first1=Peter |last2=Monaghan |first2=Paul |title=Pidgin phrasebook |date=1999 |publisher=Lonely Planet Publications |location=Hawthorn, Vic., Australia |isbn=0864425872 |page=99 |edition=2nd |language=en}}{{sfn|Mühlhäusler|Dutton|Romaine|2003|pp=1-5}}

Tok Pisin's alphabet has 21 letters, five of which are vowels, and four digraphs.{{sfn|Mundhenk|1990|page=372}} The letters are (vowels in bold):

:a, b, d, e, f, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, u, v, w, y

Three of the digraphs ({{angbr|ai}}, {{angbr|au}}, and {{angbr|oi}}) denote diphthongs, while the fourth, {{angbr|ng}}, is used for both {{IPA|/ŋ/}} and {{IPA|/ŋɡ/}}.

Tok Pisin has a smaller number of phonemes than its lexifier language, English.{{sfn|Smith|2008|page=195}} It has around 24 core phonemes:{{sfn|Smith|2008|page=195}} 5 vowels and around 19 consonants. This varies with the local substrate languages and the speaker's level of education. More educated speakers, and/or those where the substrate language(s) have larger phoneme inventories, may have as many as 10 distinct vowels.

Nasal plus plosive offsets lose the plosive element in Tok Pisin; e.g., English hand becomes Tok Pisin {{lang|tpi|han}}. Furthermore, voiced plosives become voiceless at the ends of words, so that English pig is rendered as {{lang|tpi|pik}} in Tok Pisin.

• Voiced plosives are pronounced by many speakers (especially of Melanesian backgrounds) as prenasalized plosives.
• {{IPA|/t/}}, {{IPA|/d/}}, and {{IPA|/l/}} can be either dental or alveolar consonants, while {{IPA|/n/}} is only alveolar.
• In most Tok Pisin dialects, the phoneme {{IPA|/r/}} is pronounced as the alveolar tap or flap, {{IPA|[ɾ]}}. There can be variation between {{IPA|/r/}} and {{IPA|/l/}}.{{sfn|Smith|2008|page=200}}
• The labiodental fricatives {{IPA|/f v/}} may be marginal, with contrastive use present only in heavily Anglicized varieties.{{sfn|Smith|2008|page=195}} The use of {{IPA|/f/}} vs. {{IPA|/p/}} is variable.{{sfn|Smith|2008|pages=199-200}} There is also variation between {{IPA|/f/}} and {{IPA|/v/}} in some words, such as {{lang|tpi|faif}}/{{lang|tpi|faiv}} 'five'.{{sfn|Smith|2008|page=196}}
• Likewise, there may be marginal use of {{IPA|/ʃ ʒ/}}.{{sfn|Smith|2008|page=195}}

Tok Pisin has five pure vowels:

The verb has a suffix, {{lang|tpi|-im}} (< Eng. him) to indicate transitivity ({{lang|tpi|luk}}, "look"; {{lang|tpi|lukim}}, "see"). But some verbs, such as {{lang|tpi|kaikai}} "eat", can be transitive without it. Tense is indicated by the separate words {{lang|tpi|bai}} (future) (< Eng. by and by) and {{lang|tpi|bin}} (past) (< Eng. been). The present progressive tense is indicated by the word {{lang|tpi|stap}}; e.g., {{lang|tpi|Hem kaikai stap}} "He is eating".

The noun does not indicate number, though pronouns do.

Adjectives usually take the suffix {{lang|tpi|-pela}} (now often pronounced {{lang|tpi|-pla}}, though more so for pronouns, and {{lang|tpi|-pela}} for adjectives; from "fellow") when modifying nouns; an exception is {{lang|tpi|liklik}} "little".{{notetag|{{lang|tpi|Liklik}} can also be used as an adverb meaning "slightly", as in {{lang|tpi|dispela bikpela liklik ston}}, "this slightly big stone".}} It is also found on numerals and determiners:

:Tok Pisin: {{lang|tpi|wanpela}} → Eng. "one"

:Tok Pisin: {{lang|tpi|tupela}} → Eng. "two"

:Tok Pisin: {{lang|tpi|dispela boi}} → Eng. "this bloke"

Pronouns show person, number, and clusivity. The paradigm varies depending on the local languages; dual number is common, while the trial is less so. The largest Tok Pisin pronoun inventory is:{{sfn|Verhaar|1995|p=354}}

Reduplication is very common in Tok Pisin. Sometimes it is used as a method of derivation; sometimes words just have it. Some words are distinguished only by reduplication: {{lang|tpi|sip}} "ship", {{lang|tpi|sipsip}} "sheep".

There are only two proper prepositions:

• the genitive preposition {{lang|tpi|bilong}} (etym. < Eng. belong), which is equivalent to "of", "from" and some uses of "for": e.g. {{lang|tpi|Ki bilong yu}} "your key"; {{lang|tpi|Ol bilong Godons}} "They are from Gordon's".
• the oblique preposition {{lang|tpi|long}} (etym. < Eng. along), which is used for various other relations (such as locative or dative): e.g. {{lang|tpi|Mipela i bin go long blekmaket}}. "We went to the black market".

Some phrases are used as prepositions, such as '{{lang|tpi|long namel (bilong)'}}, "in the middle of".

Several of these features derive from the common grammatical norms of Austronesian languages,{{notetag|The language Tolai is {{citation needed span|often named|date=February 2018}} as having had an important influence on early Tok Pisin.}} usually in a simplified form. Other features, such as word order, are closer to English.

Sentences with a 3rd-person subject often put the word {{lang|tpi|i}} immediately before the verb. This may or may not be written separate from the verb, occasionally written as a prefix. Although the word is thought to be derived from "he" or "is", it is not itself a pronoun or a verb but a grammatical marker used in particular constructions, e.g., {{lang|tpi|Kar i tambu long hia}} is "car forbidden here", i.e., "no parking".

Past tense: marked by {{lang|tpi|bin}} (< Eng. been):

: Tok Pisin: {{lang|tpi|Na praim minista i bin tok olsem.}}

: English: "And the prime minister spoke thus."{{sfn|Romaine|1991|p=629}}

Continuative same tense is expressed through: verb + {{lang|tpi|i stap}}.

: Tok Pisin: {{lang|tpi|Em i slip i stap}}.

: English: "He/She is sleeping."{{sfn|Romaine|1991|p=631}}

Completive or perfective aspect expressed through the word {{lang|tpi|pinis}} (< Eng. finish):

: Tok Pisin: {{lang|tpi|Em i lusim bot pinis.}}

: English: "He had got out of the boat."{{citation|title=Tok Pisin and its relevance to theoretical issues in creolistics and general linguistics| last= Mühlhäusler | first = Peter | date = 1984}} in {{harvnb|Wurm|Mühlhäusler|1985|p=462}}.

Transitive words are expressed through {{lang|tpi|-im}} (< Eng. him):

: Tok Pisin: {{lang|tpi|Yu pinisim stori nau.}}

: English: "Finish your story now!"{{citation|title=The scientific study of Tok Pisin: language planning and the Tok Pisin lexicon|last =Mühlhäusler | first = Peter | date = 1984}} in {{harvnb|Wurm|Mühlhäusler|1985|p=640}}.

Future is expressed through the word "{{lang|tpi|bai}}" (< Eng. by and by):

: Tok Pisin: {{lang|tpi| Nil nabaut {{strong|bai}} i ros.}}

: English: "If you take just any nails that happen to be around, those will rust."{{sfn|Verhaar|1995|p=315}}

Tok Pisin developed out of regional dialects of the local inhabitants' languages and English, brought into the country when English speakers arrived. Four phases in Tok Pisin's development were laid out by Loreto Todd.

1. Casual contact between English speakers and local people developed a marginal pidgin.
2. Pidgin English was used between the local people. The language expanded from the users' mother tongue.
3. As the interracial contact increased, the vocabulary expanded according to the dominant language.
4. In areas where English was the official language, a depidginization occurred (Todd, 1990).

Tok Pisin is also known as a "mixed" language. This means that it consists of characteristics of different languages. Tok Pisin obtained most of its vocabulary from English (i.e., English is its lexifier). The origin of the syntax is a matter of debate. Edward Wolfers claimed that the syntax is from the substratum languages—the languages of the local peoples.{{sfn|Wolfers|1971|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=wG08AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA413 413]}} Derek Bickerton's analysis of creoles, on the other hand, claims that the syntax of creoles is imposed on the grammarless pidgin by its first native speakers: the children who grow up exposed to only a pidgin rather than a more developed language such as one of the local languages or English. In this analysis, the original syntax of creoles is in some sense the default grammar humans are born with.

Pidgins are less elaborated than non-Pidgin languages. Their typical characteristics found in Tok Pisin are:

1. A smaller vocabulary which leads to metaphors to supply lexical units:
2. *Smaller vocabulary:
3. *:{{lang|tpi|vot}} = "election" (n) and "vote" (v)
4. *:{{lang|tpi|hevi}} = "heavy" (adj) and "weight" (n)
5. *Metaphors:
6. *:{{lang|tpi|skru bilong han}} (screw of the arm) = "elbow"
7. *:{{lang|tpi|skru bilong lek}} (screw of the leg) = "knee" (Just {{lang|tpi|skru}} almost always indicates the knee. In liturgical contexts, {{lang|tpi|brukim skru}} is "kneel.")
8. *:{{lang|tpi|gras bilong het}} (grass of the head) = "hair" (Hall, 1966: 90f) (Most commonly just {{lang|tpi|gras}}—see note on {{lang|tpi|skru bilong lek}} above.)
9. *Circumlocution:
10. *:{{lang|tpi|nambawan pikinini bilong misis kwin}} (literally "first child of Mrs Queen") = King Charles III, then known through his relation to the Queen.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/prince-charles/9654071/Prince-of-Wales-nambawan-pikinini-visits-Papua-New-Guinea.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/prince-charles/9654071/Prince-of-Wales-nambawan-pikinini-visits-Papua-New-Guinea.html |archive-date=2022-01-12 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Prince of Wales, 'nambawan pikinini', visits Papua New Guinea|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=4 November 2013}}{{cbignore}}
11. A reduced grammar: lack of copula, determiners; reduced set of prepositions, and conjunctions
12. Less differentiated phonology: {{IPA|[p]}} and {{IPA|[f]}} are not distinguished in Tok Pisin (they are in free variation). The sibilants {{IPA|/s/}}, {{IPA|/z/}}, {{IPA|/ʃ/}}, {{IPA|/ʒ/}}, {{IPA|/tʃ/}}, and {{IPA|/dʒ/}} are also not distinguished.
13. :All of the English words fish, peach, feast, piss, and peace would have been realised in Tok Pisin as {{lang|tpi|pis}}. In fact, the Tok Pisin {{lang|tpi|pis}} means "fish" (and usually has a sound closer to [{{IPA-link|ɪ}}], almost like the English word piss). English piss was reduplicated to keep it distinct: thus {{lang|tpi|pispis}} means "urine" or "to urinate".
14. :Likewise, {{lang|tpi|sip}} in Tok Pisin could have represented English ship, jib, jeep, sieve, sheep, or chief. In fact, it means "ship".

The use of circumlocutions to compensate for limited vocabulary is a familiar process in pidgin languages. Tok Pisin is no different: consider bel i no laikim kaikai "food intolerance" (literally "the belly does not like the food").

However, Tok Pisin has become especially known for its supposed use of very lengthy circumlocutions. Two commonly-cited examples relate to the piano and the helicopter.

The following Tok Pisin "names" for the piano were recorded by early 20th-century writers:{{Cite book |last=Mühlhäusler |first=Peter |title=Growth and structure of the lexicon of New Guinea Pidgin |publisher=Australian National University |year=1979 |isbn=0858831910 |location=Canberra}}{{Rp|pages=227-8}}

• big fellow box spose whiteman fight him he cry too much (1902)
• box belong cry ("screaming box") (1902)
• big fellow bokkes, suppose missis he fight him, he cry too much (1911)
• bigfela bokis yu fait-im i krai (1921)
• bikpela bokis bilong krai taim yu paitim na kikim em (1969)

Linguists observe that these circumlocutions are unstable ad hoc descriptions of an object, rather than set "words" or names. The situation is comparable to a Tok Pisin-English dictionary's definition of a Tok Pisin word with no English equivalent, such as milis being defined as "coconut milk made from shedding coconut meat in the water of a ripe nut"; nobody would suggest that this lengthy expression is the "English name" for this drink.{{Rp|page=225}}

Secondly, it is often claimed that mixmaster bilong Jesus Christ is the Tok Pisin word for "helicopter" (the Sunbeam Mixmaster was an electric food processor popular in the United States and Australia). This factoid appeared as early as 1965{{Cite book |last=Thomas |first=Lowell |author-link=Lowell Thomas |title=Adventures with the New Guinea Head-hunters |publisher=Doubleday |year=1965 |pages=291-2}} and still circulates online today. However, the phrase appears to be a fabrication by expatriates working in New Guinea.{{Rp|page=231}}{{Cite book |last=Mann |first=Milton |title=New Guinea |date=1972 |publisher=Kodansha International |isbn=978-0-87011-166-2 |editor-last= |editor-first= |edition= |series=This beautiful world |location=Tokyo |pages=11 |editor-last2= |editor-first2=}}{{Cite journal |last=Laycock |first=Donald C. |date=1970 |title=It was a peculiarly great year for pidgin |journal=Pacific Islands Monthly |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=45-8}} Linguists point out that helicopters, introduced to New Guinea by oil search teams, would have been far more familiar to early Tok Pisin speakers than electric food processors.

==Vocabulary==

Many words in the Tok Pisin language are derived from English (with Australian influences), indigenous Melanesian languages, and German (part of the country was under German rule until 1919). Some examples:

• {{lang|tpi|as}} = "bottom", "cause", "beginning" (from ass/arse). {{lang|tpi|As ples bilong em}} = "his birthplace". {{lang|tpi|As bilong diwai}} = "the stump of a tree".
• {{lang|tpi|bagarap(im)}} = "broken", "to break down" (from bugger up). The word is commonly used, with no vulgar undertone, in Tok Pisin and even in Papua New Guinea English.
• {{lang|tpi|bagarap olgeta}} = "completely broken"
• {{lang|tpi|balus}} = "bird" or more specifically a pigeon or dove (an Austronesian loan word); by extension "aeroplane"
• {{lang|tpi|belhat}} = "angry" ({{lit|belly hot}})
• {{lang|tpi|belo}} = "bell", as in {{lang|tpi|belo bilong lotu}} = "church bell". By extension "lunch" or "midday break" (from the bell rung to summon diners to the table). A fanciful derivation has been suggested from the "bellows" of horns used by businesses to indicate the beginning of the lunch hour, but this seems less likely than the straightforward derivation.
• {{lang|tpi|bensin}} = "petrol/gasoline" (from German {{lang|de|Benzin}})
• {{lang|tpi|bilong wanem?}} = "why?"
• {{lang|tpi|braun}} = "brown"
• {{lang|tpi|buai}} = "betelnut"
• {{lang|tpi|bubu}} = "grandparent", any elderly relation; also "grandchild". Possibly from Hiri Motu, where it is a familiar form of "tubu", as in "tubuna" or "tubugu".
• {{lang|tpi|diwai}} = "tree", "wood", "plant", "stick", etc.
• {{lang|tpi|gat bel}} = "pregnant" ({{lit|has belly}}; {{lang|tpi|pasin bilong givim bel}} = "fertility")
• {{lang|tpi|gras}} = "hair" (from grass)
• {{lang|tpi|gude}} = "hello" (from g'day)
• {{lang|tpi|gut}} = "good"
• {{lang|tpi|(h)amamas}} = "happy"
• {{lang|tpi|hap}} = a piece of, as in {{lang|tpi|hap diwai}} = a piece of wood (from half)
• {{lang|tpi|hapsait}} = "the other side" (from half side)
• {{lang|tpi|hap ret}} = "purple" (from half red)
• {{lang|tpi|haus}} = "house" or "building" (from German {{lang|de|Haus}} and/or English house)
• {{lang|tpi|hausboi/hausmeri}} = "a male/female domestic servant"; {{lang|tpi|haus boi}} can also mean "servants quarters"
• {{lang|tpi|haus kaikai}} = restaurant ("house [of] food")
• {{lang|tpi|haus moni}} = "bank" ("house [of] money")
• {{lang|tpi|haus sik}} = "hospital" ("house [of] sick")
• {{lang|tpi|haus dok sik}} = "animal hospital" ("house [of] dog sick")
• {{lang|tpi|haus karai}} = "place of mourning" ("house [of] cry")
• {{lang|tpi|sit haus}} (vulgar) = "toilet" ("shit house"), also:
• {{lang|tpi|liklik haus}} = "toilet"
• {{lang|tpi|smol haus}} = "toilet/bathroom" ("small house")
• {{lang|tpi|haus tambaran}} = "traditional Sepik-region house with artifacts of ancestors or for honoring ancestors; {{lang|tpi|tambaran}} means "ancestor spirit" or "ghost"
• {{lang|tpi|hevi}} = "heavy", "problem". {{lang|tpi|Em i gat bigpela hevi}} = "he has a big problem".
• {{lang|tpi|hukim pis}} = "catch fish" (from hook)
• {{lang|tpi|kaikai}} = "food", "eat", "to bite" (Austronesian loan word)
• {{lang|tpi|kaikai bilong moningtaim}} = "breakfast"
• {{lang|tpi|kaikai bilong nait}} = "dinner/supper"
• {{lang|tpi|kakaruk}} = "chicken" (probably onomatapoetic, from the crowing of the rooster)
• {{lang|tpi|kamap}} = "arrive", "become" (from come up)
• {{lang|tpi|kisim}} = "get", "take" (from get them)
• {{lang|tpi|lotu}} = "church", "worship" from Fijian, but sometimes {{lang|tpi|sios}} is used for "church"
• {{lang|tpi|magani}} = "wallaby"
• {{lang|tpi|bikpela magani}} = "kangaroo" ("big wallaby")
• {{lang|tpi|mangi/manki}} = "small boy"; by extension, "young man" (probably from the English jocular/affectionate usage monkey, applied to mischievous children, although a derivation from the German {{lang|de|Männchen}}, meaning "little man", has also been suggested)
• {{lang|tpi|manmeri}} = "people" (from {{lang|tpi|man}} "man" and {{lang|tpi|meri}} "woman")
• {{lang|tpi|maski}} = "it doesn't matter", "don't worry about it" (probably from German {{lang|de|macht nichts}} = "it doesn't matter")
• {{lang|tpi|maus gras}} = "moustache" ("mouth grass")
• {{lang|tpi|meri}} = "woman" (from the English name Mary); also "female", e.g., {{lang|tpi|bulmakau meri}} ({{lit|bull-cow female}}) = cow.
• {{lang|tpi|olgeta}} = "all" (from all together)
• {{lang|tpi|olsem wanem}} = "what?", "what's going on?" (literally "like what"?); sometimes used as an informal greeting, similar to what's up? in English
• {{lang|tpi|palopa}} - homosexual man, or transsexual woman
• {{lang|tpi|pisin}} = "bird" (from pigeon). (The homophony of this word with the name of the language has led to a limited association between the two; Mian speakers, for example, refer to Tok Pisin as {{lang|mpt|wan weng}}, literally "bird language".)
• {{lang|tpi|pasim}} = "close", "lock" (from fasten)
• {{lang|tpi|pasim maus}} = "shut up", "be quiet", i.e. {{lang|tpi|yu pasim maus}}, literally "you close mouth" = "shut up!"
• {{lang|tpi|paul}} = "wrong", "confused", i.e. {{lang|tpi|em i paul}} = "he is confused" (from English foul)
• {{lang|tpi|pikinini}} = "child", ultimately from Portuguese-influenced Lingua franca; cf. English pickaninny
• {{lang|tpi|raskol}} = "thief, criminal" (from rascal)
• {{lang|tpi|raus, rausim}} ({{lang|tpi|rausim}} is the transitive form) = "get out, throw out, remove" (from German {{lang|de|raus}} meaning "out")
• {{lang|tpi|rokrok}} = "frog" (probably onomatopoeic)
• {{lang|tpi|sapos}} = "if" (from suppose)
• {{lang|tpi|save}} = "know", "to do habitually" (ultimately from Portuguese-influenced Lingua franca, cf. English savvy)
• {{lang|tpi|sit}} = "remnant" (from shit)
• {{lang|tpi|solwara}} = "ocean" (from salt water)
• {{lang|tpi|sop}} = "soap"; also
• {{lang|tpi|sop bilong tut}} = "toothpaste"
• {{lang|tpi|sop bilong gras}} = "shampoo"
• {{lang|tpi|stap}} = "stay", "be (somewhere)", "live" (from stop)
• {{lang|tpi|susa}} = "sister", nowadays very commonly supplanted by {{lang|tpi|sista}}. Some Tok Pisin speakers use {{lang|tpi|susa}} for a sibling of the opposite gender, while a sibling of the same gender as the speaker is a {{lang|tpi|b(a)rata}}.
• {{lang|tpi|susu}} = "milk, breasts" (from Malay {{lang|ms|susu}})
• {{lang|tpi|tambu}} = "forbidden", but also "in-laws" (mother-in-law, brother-in-law, etc.) and other relatives whom one is forbidden to speak to, or mention the name of, in some PNG customs (from tabu or tambu in various Austronesian languages, the origin of Eng. taboo)
• {{lang|tpi|tasol}} = "only, just"; "but" (from that's all)
• {{lang|tpi|Tok Inglis}} = "English language"
• {{lang|tpi|wanpela}} = "one", "a" (indefinite article).

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Tok Pisin:

:{{lang|tpi|Yumi olgeta mama karim umi long stap fri na wankain long wei yumi lukim i gutpela na strepela tru. Yumi olgeta igat ting ting bilong wanem samting i rait na rong na mipela olgeta i mas mekim gutpela pasin long ol narapela long tingting bilong brata susa.}}{{cite web|url=https://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/Language.aspx?LangID=pdg|title=TOKSAVE LONG OL RAITS BILONG OL MANMERI LONG OLGETA HAP BILONG DISPELA GIRAUN AS BILONG TOKTOK|website=ohchr.org}}

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English:

:All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.{{cite news|url=https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights|title=Universal Declaration of Human Rights|newspaper=United Nations}}

{{NoteFoot}}

{{reflist}}

{{refbegin|indent=yes}}

• {{cite book

|last1 = Dutton |first1 = Thomas Edward

|last2 = Thomas |first2 = Dicks

|title = A New Course in Tok Pisin (New Guinea Pidgin)

|publisher = Australian National University

|location = Canberra

|year = 1985

|isbn = 978-0-85883-341-8

|oclc = 15812820}}

• {{cite book

|last = Mihalic |first = Francis

|title = The Jacaranda Dictionary and Grammar of Melanesian Pidgin

|publisher = Jacaranda Press

|location = Milton, Queensland

|year = 1971

|isbn = 978-0-7016-8112-8

|oclc = 213236}}

• {{cite book

|first1 = Peter |last1 = Mühlhäusler

|first2 = Thomas Edward |last2 = Dutton

|first3 = Suzanne |last3 = Romaine

|title = Tok Pisin Texts from the Beginning to the Present

|series = Varieties of English Around the World

|location = Philadelphia, PA

|publisher = John Benjamins

|year = 2003

|doi = 10.1075/veaw.t9

|isbn = 978-90-272-4718-6}}

• {{cite conference

|last = Mundhenk |first = Norm

|chapter = Linguistic decisions in the Tok Pisin Bible

|series = Studies in Language Companion Series

|volume = 20

|page = 345

|year = 1990

|title = Melanesian Pidgin and Tok Pisin

|conference = Melanesian Pidgin and Tok Pisin: Proceedings of the First International Conference on Pidgins and Creoles in Melanesia

|doi = 10.1075/slcs.20.16mun

|isbn = 978-90-272-3023-2}}

• {{cite book

|last = Murphy |first = John Joseph

|title = The Book of Pidgin English

|edition = 6th

|publisher = Robert Brown

|location = Bathurst, New South Wales

|year = 1985

|isbn = 978-0-404-14160-8

|oclc = 5354671}}

• {{cite book

|ref = {{sfnref|Nupela Testamen bilong Bikpela Jisas Kraist|1969}}

|title = Nupela Testamen bilong Bikpela Jisas Kraist

|publisher = The Bible Society of Papua New Guinea

|language = tpi

|year = 1980

|isbn = 978-0-647-03671-6

|oclc = 12329661}}

• {{ Cite book

| last = Romaine | first = Suzanne

| chapter= The Pacific

| editor-last = Cheshire | editor-first= Jenny

| title = English Around the World: Sociolinguistic Perspectives

| place =Cambridge

| publisher =Cambridge University Press

| pages = 619–636

| doi = 10.1017/CBO9780511611889.042

| year = 1991| isbn = 978-0-521-39565-6

}}

• {{cite book

|last = Smith |first = Geoff P.

|title = Growing Up With Tok Pisin: Contact, Creolization, and Change in Papua New Guinea's National Language

|publisher = Battlebridge Publications

|location = London

|year = 2002

|isbn = 978-1-903292-06-8

|oclc = 49834526}}

• {{cite book

|last = Smith |first = Geoff P.

|chapter = Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea: phonology

|title = Varieties of English 3: The Pacific and Australasia

|editor-last1 = Burridge |editor-first1 = Kate

|editor-last2 = Kortmann |editor-first2 = Bernd

|publisher = Mouton de Gruyter

|location = Berlin, Germany

|pages = 188–209

|year = 2008

|isbn = 978-3-11-019637-5}}

• {{cite book

|last=Verhaar |first=John W.M.

|date=1995

|title=Toward a Reference Grammar of Tok Pisin: An Experiment in Corpus Linguistics

|journal=Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications

|series=Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications, no. 26

|publisher=University of Hawaiʻi Press

|location=Honolulu

|jstor=20006762

|isbn=9780824816728}}

• {{cite book

|last = Volker |first = C.A.

|year = 2008

|title = Papua New Guinea Tok Pisin English Dictionary

|location = South Melbourne

|publisher = Oxford University Press

|isbn = 978-0-19-555112-9}}

• {{cite conference| chapter= A report on Neo-Melanesian|title = Pidginization and Creolization of Languages | date= 1971 | pages=413–422 | conference= Proceedings of a conference held at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica, April 1968 | publisher= Cambridge University Press| last= Wolfers| first= Edward| editor= Dell H. Hymes| editor-link= Dell Hymes | isbn = 9780521078337}}
• {{cite book

|editor-last1 = Wurm |editor-first1 = S. A.

|editor-last2 = Mühlhäusler |editor-first2 = P.

|title = Handbook of Tok Pisin (New Guinea Pidgin)

| place = Australian National University

|publisher = Pacific Linguistics

|series = Languages For Intercultural Communication In The Pacific Area Project of The Australian Academy of The Humanities, no. 1

|year = 1985

| hdl = 1885/145234 | hdl-access= free

|isbn = 978-0-85883-321-0

|oclc = 12883165}}

{{refend}}

• Throwim Way Leg by Tim Flannery

{{Wikibooks}}

{{interwiki|code=tpi}}

• [http://www.tok-pisin.com/ Tok Pisin Translation, Resources, and Discussion] Offers Tok Pisin translator, vocabulary, and discussion groups.
• [https://www.tokpisin.info Tok Pisin (New Guinea Pidgin) English Bilingual Dictionary]
• Tok Pisin phrasebook on Wikivoyage
• [http://THSlone.tripod.com/MPEB.html#tokpisin A bibliography of Tok Pisin dictionaries, phrase books and study guides]
• [http://www.mihalicdictionary.org/ Revising the Mihalic Project] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160905125639/http://www.mihalicdictionary.org/ |date=2016-09-05}}, a collaborative internet project to revise and update Fr. Frank Mihalic's Grammar and Dictionary of Neo-Melanesian. An illustrated online dictionary of Tok Pisin.
• [http://hawaii.edu/satocenter/langnet/definitions/tokpisin.html Tok Pisin background, vocabulary, sounds, and grammar], by Jeff Siegel
• [https://www.abc.net.au/news/tok-pisin Radio Australia Tok Pisin service]
• [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCau_6QfTRE_VFd0lZVgjZmA Tok Pisin Radio on Youtube]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120126125709/http://www.bible.is/toc?version=TPIPNG&language=Tok+Pisin Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin (The Bible in Tok Pisin)]
• [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/PNG/tok_pisin_hc.html Eukarist] Anglican liturgy of Holy Communion in Tok Pisin
• [http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED401761.pdf Tokpisin Grammar Workbook for English Speakers. A Practical Approach to Learning the Sentence Structure of Melanesian Pidgin (or Tokpisin).]
• [http://roberteklund.info/PNG-TokPisin.htm Robert Eklund's Tok Pisin Page] – with recorded dialogs, children's ditties and a hymn ([http://www.ida.liu.se/~g-robek/PNG-TokPisin.htm alternative address])
• [https://archive.org/details/rosettaproject_tpi_swadesh-1 Tok Pisin Swadesh List] by Rosetta Project
• Audio and video recordings of a Tok Pisin event. [https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/36676 Traditional "house cry"/"kisim sori na kam" ceremony for big man Paul Ine]. Archived with Kaipuleohone

{{Languages of Papua New Guinea}}

{{Mid-pacific English-based pidgins and creoles}}

{{Oceania topic|Languages of}}

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Category:Articles containing video clips

Category:English-based pidgins and creoles

Category:Languages of Papua New Guinea

Category:Subject–verb–object languages