Multifunctionality in Pitkern-Norf'k and Tok Pisin

This paper investigates claims as to the role of categorial multifunctionality in the Pitkern-Norf’k (PN) language. It concludes that the grammar of this construction is far less productive than that of either English or Tahitian (the principal substratum language). Essentially, multifunctionality i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Pidgin and Creole languages 2008-01, Vol.23 (1), p.75-113
Main Author: Muhlhausler, Peter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
English language
Languages in contact
Linguistics
Polynesian languages
Sabirs. Pidgins. Creoles
Sociolinguistics and ethnolinguistics
Tok Pisin language
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Summary:This paper investigates claims as to the role of categorial multifunctionality in the Pitkern-Norf’k (PN) language. It concludes that the grammar of this construction is far less productive than that of either English or Tahitian (the principal substratum language). Essentially, multifunctionality in PN is a subset of English. In this, it is very different from Tok Pisin, which developed an independent system of categorial multifunctionality over the first 80 years of its existence. The paper makes some suggestions as to why the productivity of the derivational lexicon is so different in the two languages.
ISSN:0920-9034
1569-9870
DOI:10.1075/jpcl.23.1.04muh