Brief intro to TOKPISIN
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Tokpisin is a pidgin (though now a creole) spoken in Papua-New Guinea and nearby island groups, that developed as a lingua franca among natives who were in contact with English speakers, and whose native tongues were unintelligible to each other.

One of the remarkable characterisitics of the language is that it can be speedily learned, thus facilitating communication among a populus with over seven hundred native languages.

Bislama (from Beche le mer, a French term for trepang, if I'm not mistaken) is nearly the same as Tokpisin.

Both languages describe rather than invent new words, and in consequence have their own menmonic content, which is fairly transparent for the English speaker.

A few examples:
Asgras = Clothing (arse-grass).
Spakman = Drunkard (sparked person).
Wailpusi = Jungle feline (wild pussycat).
Abus = Wild animal ('bush').
Wantok = Person from the same linguistic group (one-talk).
Mipela yupela olpela (we the people).


My favourite Tokpisin demo-phrase is the not entirely hypothetical "E, yupela bosman bilong im dispela stoa, yu gatim wanpela bokis i gatim marasin bis i bilongim binatang i kaikai laplap na laplap i bagarap na binatang i dai pinis o nogat?"

Storekeeper, do you have mothballs?

[A very important question in a place with numerous insect pests.]


"Hey, you-fellow (counting word for humans and similar large things or creatures) boss-man that is connected with (bilong: general verb, to belong, connected to, related to) this particular unit of (this + fellow: counting word) store (stoa), do you have (gat+im: got him, have) a (one fellow) box which has (he got him) medicine (marasin) beads (bis) that relate to the insect (binatang) that eats cloth (he 'kai kai' 'laplap) and the cloth is destroyed (bagarap) and the insect subsequently dies (he die finish - because of the medicine beads), or not?


Pela is a general term for persons, creatures, things. Like many languages, Tokpisin functions best when numeral coefficients are used.

Bilong, bilong en, bilong im = Belong is a multi-purpose verb.

Bokis = Box, but also box-shaped things. Blakbox = A) Flying fox; B) Term for the feminine generative organ.

Marasin = Medicine, hence chemicals and chemical products, including items toxic to humans.

Binatang = Insect, from Malay animal or creature.

Kaikai = Te eat; from Malayo-Polynesian 'eat', duplicated verb form.

Laplap = Cloth; either from Dutch or German 'rag', or from Melanesian Lavalava (loin-wrap).

Bagarap = Destroyed, ruined (borrowed from the Australians).

Pinis = Completed tense post-fix (finish). Like 'stap' (stop), which indicates an ongoing action (yu mas sit stap = please remain seated. Baimbai balus i stap pinis = eventually the plane will stop moving).


They hold parlementary debates in this language (which should be a hoot to read the transcripts of; the local conservative party is aptly called the 'big-pela parti'), and the Bible has been translated into it - trust me, the Book of Revelations is over the top insanity in tokpisin.


I have to re-review the material, there is much I've grown rusty in.

Moa i kam lukim yu bihain (more later)