Micronesian Pidgin English

Micronesian Pidgin is an English-based pidgin language spoken in nineteenth-century Micronesia. It may have been related to Melanesian Pidgin English, due to a number of workers from Melanesia.

Micronesian Pidgin English
RegionMicronesia
EraLate 19th century; survives in Nauruan Pidgin English
English-based pidgin
  • Pacific
    • Micronesian Pidgin English
Language codes
ISO 639-3None (mis)
GlottologNone
IETFcpe-057
The languages spoken in Micronesia. English pidgins are not marked.

English-speaking traders dominated the area from about 1840, and unstable pidgins were in use by 1860. It may have creolized in some beach communities of Kusaie, but no data is available. In 1899 the area passed to German control, and since English pidgin was not used for local inter-ethnic communication, it quickly disappeared: It had been replaced by German by the time German control ended in 1919. The one exception is on Nauru, where it appears to have combined with Chinese Pidgin English to create Nauruan Pidgin English.

Micronesia includes the Carolines (divided between the Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia), the Marshalls, the Marianas (divided between the Northern Marianas and Guam), and the Gilberts (where the most populated part of Kiribati is located) as well as isolates like Wake Island, Nauru and Banaba.[1]

There are only 15–30 native speakers left worldwide.[2]

References
Notes
  1. Hall, Robert A. (1945). "English Loan Words in Micronesian Languages". Language. 21 (3): 214–219. doi:10.2307/410507. JSTOR 410507.
  2. "Ngatik Men's Creole". endangeredlanguages.com.
Bibliography
  • Ulrich Ammon, 1992, Status Change of Languages


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