The Evolution of Written Bislama Cendrine Jarraud-Leblanc A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics, The University of Auckland, 2012. Co-tutelle agreement with l’Université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie. Abstract This thesis explores the potential decreolisation of Bislama, the creole of Vanuatu. It focuses on the evolution of the written language and consists in the study of a corpus of documents in Bislama in various genres and over a period of 40 years. The first three chapters of this thesis focus on the background, setting first the historical, geographical and sociological context of the study. In the second chapter, I present the theoretical frame on pidgins and creoles which shows that my study fills in a gap in the literature. My work is diachronic in essence but also looks into the place of Bislama in the formal education system of Vanuatu. The methodology was therefore two-fold. The main part of the thesis is an empirical quantitative study of a data base of written material that I constructed as well as other documents not included in the data base. The part on education relies on interviews made in Vanuatu during my fieldtrips. The hypothesis of decreolisation is discussed in Chapters 4 and 5 and the present research shows that the anglicisation of written Bislama varies considerably between the genres. For some genres and in some of their sub-categories, there is evidence of decreolisation taking place. However, no generalisation can be made as in other genres the phenomenon is just not occurring in an obvious way or not at all. In Chapter 6, my study also highlights the obvious link between the lack of standardisation of written Bislama, its potential decreolisation and the fact that it is neither taught nor used as a medium of instruction in Ni-Vanuatu schools. ii Acknowledgements The University of Auckland’s metaphor for a PhD is ‘It’s a journey. You are not alone’. It was indeed a journey, and it would not have been possible without the help and support of so many. First, I am very grateful for the help of my supervisors, Ross Clark and Frank Lichtenberk in Auckland, and Bernard Rigo in Nouméa. I would also like to thank the administrative staff at DALSL who made it so much easier for me to cope with red-tape. Wan bigfala tankiu i go long evri pipol we oli bin givhan long mi wetem risej blong mi long Vanuatu. Fastaem, long Augustin, Manuel mo Hari, trifala we oli bin ol tija blong mi.Yufala tri yufala i tuff we i tuff! Afta, mi wantem tu talem tankiu i go long staf blong VKS mo laebreri we oli naes tumas. Taem mi bin stap long Port Vila blong stadi blong mi, mi bin mit wetem plante pipol we oli agri blong talem plante samting long saed long Bislama mo oli givim plante posta mo buk long Bislama long mi. Tankiu i go long staf blong MOE, blong niuspepa, blong Languages Services mo USP. Mi wantem talem tankiu i goaot long Charlie Pierce mo long ol memba blong Kam2geta we ol i bin agri blong mi save yusum ol diskasen blong olgeta long websaet ia. I am also very grateful to Robert Early, Ross Webb and Miriam Meyerhoff for their support. Merci à l’UNC de m’avoir accordé un semestre sabbatique pour ma recherche, et au laboratoire de recherche CNEP pour son aide financière pour l’un de mes séjours au Vanuatu. Ce voyage n’aurait pas pu se faire sans l’indéfectible soutien de ma famille et de mes amis: merci à tous. J’ai aussi été accompagnée par ceux déjà partis pour un autre voyage, Philippe, Sébastien et Roger, ainsi que mon ami Michel Aufray, Professeur à l’INALCO, qui a fait germer l’idée de cette thèse. Dokta Toktok, wok ia i go long yu mo mi hop se bae hem i mekem yu praod long mi. iii Table of contents Abstract ii Acknowledgments iii List of abbreviations ix List of tables x Map of Vanuatu xiv Chapter 1: The background Introduction 1 1.1 Brief historical background 2 1.2 My study 4 1.3 Rationale 5 1.4 A changing world 6 1.5 Organisation of the thesis 17 Conclusion 18 Chapter 2: The theoretical frame 2.1 Pidgins and creoles 19 2.1.1 Etymology 19 2.1.2 Definitions 20 2.1.3 The genesis of pidgins and creoles 21 2.1.4 Decreolisation 25 2.2 Bislama i stap wea? (What about Bislama?) 29 2.2.1 Melanesian Pidgin 29 2.2.2 Bislama 35 2.2.2.1 Dictionaries, grammars and other descriptive works 36 2.2.2.2 Bislama as a written language 46 2.2.2.3 Educational material in Bislama 50 2.2.2.4 Sociolinguistic approaches 52 2.3 Language policy in the South Pacific 57 Conclusion 62 iv Chapter 3: Methodology 63 3.1 The language: corpus analysis 64 3.1.1 The choice of corpus/corpora 64 3.1.2 The genres 66 3.1.3 Difficulties 67 3.1.4 Data analysis 68 3.1.5 Data base 71 3.2 Bislama in education 72 3.2.1 The documents from the MOE 72 3.2.2 Interviews 73 Chapter 4: Bislama 4.1 History of Bislama 75 4.2 From oral to written (1960s/1970s) 76 4.2.1 The press 80 4.2.1.1 Newsletters 81 4.2.1.2 Newspapers 86 4.2.2 Politics: the road to independence 92 4.2.3 Religion 100 4.2.3.1 Translations of the Gospels and the Bible 102 4.2.3.2 Other religious publications 104 4.2.4 Other publications: science and agriculture 110 4.2.4.1 Nitutu 110 4.2.4.2 VRDTCA Niusleta 112 4.2.4.3 Naika 115 4.3 Literature: Ligo, WWII, Molisa 116 4.3.1 Poetry 116 4.3.2 Murder long Paradise 121 4.3.3 Big Wok 126 4.4 Educational material 129 4.4.1 Man, Langwis mo Kastom long Niu Hebridis 129 4.4.2 USP 129 4.4.2.1 Bislama Coursebooks 130 4.4.2.2 Crowley’s dictionaries 130 v 4.4.3 Early education 137 4.4.4 Ministry of Education 139 4.5 NGOs 141 4.5.1 Vanuatu Women’s Centre 141 4.5.2 Transparency International Vanuatu 144 4.5.3 Wan Smolbag 145 4.5.4 Miscellania 146 4.6 Official reports 155 4.6.1 Vanuatu Kaljoral Senta (VKS) / Vanuatu Cultural Centre (VCC) 155 4.6.2 VNSO 156 4.6.3 AusAID 157 4.7 New forms of the written language: text messages, emails, chat 158 4.7.1 SMS or text messages 159 4.7.2 Emails 162 4.7.3 Kam2geta 163 4.7.4 Instant chat 166 4.8 Translations 167 4.8.1 Konstitusen blong Ripablik blong Vanuatu 169 4.8.2 Politics and other official documents 172 4.8.2.1 Human Raets Toksave 172 4.8.2.2 Tan Union 175 4.8.2.3 Viewpoint 176 4.8.2.4 Various translations 177 4.8.3 Biwako Millenium Framework 178 4.8.4 Naika 179 4.8.5 Poetry 180 4.8.6 Religion 182 4.8.7 Advertisements 183 Chapter 5: Results and analyses vi 5.1 The corpus 189 5.2 Plural -s 195 5.2.1 The results for –s 197 5.2.1.1 –s in Advertisements 199 5.2.1.2 –s in Religion 201 5.2.1.3 –s in Politics 203 5.2.2 The link between –s and English 204 5.2.2.1 English nouns in the plural 204 5.2.2.2 Bislama nouns with the plural –s 210 5.3 Compound words 213 5.3.1 C1 words 214 5.3.2 C2 and C3 compound words 221 5.3.2.1 C3 Bislama words 224 5.3.2.2 C2 Bislama compounds 227 5.3.2.3 Comparative results 233 5.4 The case of evri and olgeta 235 5.4.1 Quantifiers in English 236 5.4.2 Quantifiers in Bislama 237 5.4.2.1 Olgeta 238 5.4.2.2 Evri/evriwan 240 5.4.3 The pilot study 241 5.4.4 Evri in the data base 246 5.5 Verbs 252 5.6 Spelling 257 5.6.1 Various orthographies 258 5.6.2 Cliticisation of I 260 5.7 Passive and epenthetic vowels 265 Chapter 6: Bislama in education 267 6.1 The paradox 272 6.2 An old story 272 6.3 The justifications 279 vii 6.3.1 Lack of standardisation: myth or reality? 280 6.3.2 The steps towards standardisation 281 6.3.3 Interference with English 288 6.4 New developments 289 6.4.1 The future of Bislama in education 290 6.4.2 The new policy 292 6.4.3 The limitations of the policy 295 6.4.4 The place of Bislama 299 Chapter 7 Conclusion 303 Appendices Appendix A: Vanuatu periodicals 313 Appendix B: Size of corpus by genre and period 314 Appendix C: Total -s by genre and period (data base) 315 Appendix D: UNESCO poster 316 Appendix E: Plural -s match by genre and period (data base0 317 Appendix F: Research permit 318 References 319 viii Abbreviations AusAID Australian Agency for International Development CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women CMC Computer-mediated communication ELP Education Language Policy INTV Institut National de Technologie du Vanuatu LAV Literacy Association of Vanuatu L1 First language MOE Ministry of Education (Vanuatu) MP Melanesian Pidgin NGO Non-government organisation NZAID New Zealand Agency for International Development PNG Papua New Guinea PVC Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu SIL Summer Institute of Linguistics UNC University of New Caledonia UOA University of Auckland USP University of the South Pacific VCC Vanuatu Cultural Centre VKS Vanuatu Kaljoral Senta VL Vernacular language(s) VLPC Vanuatu Language Planning Conference VNCC Vanuatu National Cultural Council VNSO Vanuatu National Statistics Office WV World Vision (Vanuatu) ix List of tables Chapter 1 Table 1.1: Languages used at home 1999 7 Table 1.2: Language of instruction 1999 7 Table 1.3: Literacy rates 9 Table 1.4: Illiteracy rate urban and rural plus age range 10 Table 1.5: Literacy in Bislama 2009 11 Table 1.6: Language ability (in any language) 12 Table 1.7: Main language of household (1999 & 2009) 13 Table 1.8: Mobile phone and Internet in households 2009 15 Table 1.9: Mobile phone and Internet users 2009 16 Chapter 1 Table 4.1: Pilot plural -s 91 Table 4.2: Political publications 93 Table 4.3: Pilot criteria press 97 Table 4.4: Religious publications 100 Table 4.5: Main changes between Buk Tri/ Buk Fo 106 Table 4.6: Changes in the versions of the Gospel of John 107 Table 4.7: Anglicised expressions, nouns and adjectives in Ligo 124 Table 4.8: Synonyms and definitions by Ligo 125 Table 4.9: New nouns and compounds in the