Problem Of Pidgin English In Its

How Should You Spell “Mifela”?

Present Written Form

N the various interesting comments on Professor Hall’s new book, Hands Off Pidgin —a denee of New Guinea’s commercial ' raLas oommn 8.

“I still cannot understand what gained by spelling such words my, mi; belong, bilong; piccamy, pikinini; you, yu— and so . Is the idea to make it look un-English as possible?” j e rv fair commpnt a«3 « rnoHor fact thoseTf us who hon? that • P-NG mav bP listed in its task of maSng if llion NG natives literate, by using Igm as a stepping-stone from vernaculars to simple English /e often wondered why High icialdom in New Guinea has troved this kind of Pidgin spell-

°Until°recent Sy |elS “almost

, g , aeciaea that the only

practicable medium of instruction, in this Islands Tower of Babel, was the Beach Lingo, Pidgin. Necessarily, they reduced it to writing Lutherans—themselves had a poor knowledge of English; and there fore they proceeded to spell Pidgin- English phonetically, and in accord ance with European rather than English pronunciation of the Roman alphabet. From the English speak cr s point of view, the result is horrible; but, until now (when the question of how best to use Pidgin ™ edi . un \ of introduc worried aboutfit anSBS n ° ° n6 haS wo ; rlea aDOUt , No , w ’ however, High Officialdom should take a firm stand. If Pidgin 18 ~° he used as the first step in natlve education—and Hall and others insist that no other course

Slid*be either wfp^Tout

the step from reading and writing

in Pidgin to reading and writing in simple English becomes easy.

Obviously, if the native is made partly literate in Pidgin, with phonetic spelling, the task of educa tion is doubled. In order to use a simple English, as the open door to general education, he has virtually to learn reading and writing all over again.

THE other day, we of the PIM made a practical test. We pre sented one of the Pidgin news sheets issued in New Guinea to a New Guinea planter—a well educated man on furlough in Syd ney—and asked him what it meant.

When he read it to himself (in the wav in which you and I read) he could make little of it—frankly confessed that he could not get the meaning. But when we took over the sheet, and read it aloud, phonetically, and giving Con tinental values to the vowels, he understood it immediately.

Without being masters of the lingo, we editorial folk have heard Pidgin spoken many times, and understand its construction and can generally follow its meaning. If written Pidgin were spelled as in English, we could read it and get its meaning. But we have not a clue to the meaning of Pidgin, spelled as it is now.

The Mission bodies which have adopted this phonetic spelling, and

produced considerable school litera ture in this medium, will, of course, resist any change-over from phonetic to English spelling.

In the interests of the Dual Territory as a whole, this matter should be considered on the top level before the country is irrevoc ably committed to this form of

written Pidgin, and a decision i If orthodox English spellin Pidgin is considered desirable i general interests of native e tion, the Mission bodies shou expected to conform to the r even if they had to be comper for printed material thus ren valueless. Continued on next

It does not matter to the native Eether he is taught to spell in the iglish fashion, or phonetically. The ct that a non-English missionary n deal more easily with phonetic ly-spelled Pidgin is of lesser im rtance than the fact that a native ungster, introduced to Pidgin iglish words in their English elling, already has his foot on the reshold of literacy.

An Expert Opinion

IHE PIM asked Mr. H. E. Maude, Director of the Social Develop ment Section of the South cific Commission’s Research uncil, if he had any comment to ike.

Vlr. Maude agreed that, in view the native-education tasks which :e the various Administrations in ; Southwest Pacific, this matter whether more effective use could made of Pidgin English was one growing importance. He said, weve r, that experiments had iwn that the native when taught it the letters of the English ihabet had certain fixed values iat is, phonetic spelling) could re easily learn to read and write Pidgin than in orthodox English, jerson unacquainted with English is it most difficult to follow the ;aries of English spelling— ugh, tough, through, plough, for ,mple, all pronounced differently, t when a native had been taught metic spelling, it was more dif ilt for him to learn orthodox lling and pronunciation. [ had been noted in the Solomons I New Hebrides and, to a lesser ent in New Guinea, that Pidgin » slowly but steadily changing in racter, and developing an affinity h orthodox English. Native gin speakers of the present eration had a certain difficulty following the Pidgin spoken by ir grandfathers. This might plify the problem for the cationalists. [t may well be that, in view of growing urgency of native educa i problems, the time will come a review of the system of writ- Pidgin English, which was pted many years ago under con ons which now have changed 7 much,” said Mr. Maude. r. H. J. Whyte, B.Med, MB, Ch.B. been appointed senior lecturer head of the Department of siology at the Central Medical 001, Fiji. A New Zealander, he ed with RNZAF in the Pacific mg the war. Later, he graduated n Otago University with dis xion, and has lately been re nt officer, Waikato Hospital, NZ. i’. P. W. Downes, MB, Ch.B, 29t;-old graduate of Bristol Uni ity, England, has been apnointed nedical officer in Fiji by the th Pacific Health Service.

H Rev. Father Francis Wiesenthal, SVD, recently celebrated the golden jubilee of his ordination at Alexishafen, NG. Father Wiesenthal, now 75 years of age, has served his mission in New Guinea for almost 50 years.

II Mr. and Mrs. C W. Seton, well known planters in the British Solo mon Islands, are at present on furlough in NSW. Mrs. Seton’s health has not been good for some time and she has been receiving ex pert treatment in Sydney.