Attitudinal Factors Affecting Language Use and Policy in Papua New Guinea with an Emphasis on Tok Pisin

Abstract

Seven self-identified Papua New Guineans living in Auckland, New Zealand were interviewed regarding their attitudes and beliefs relating to language in Papua New Guinea in general and Tok Pisin in particular. The goal of the project was in part to gain some insight into general language attitudes in Papua New Guinea, but more specifically to look at how the participants viewed Tok Pisin. Questions were asked about why it has such strong vitality and is so widely used, particularly when considered in the context of its relative lack of legal status when compared to similar languages such as Bislama in Vanuatu. Responses were subjected to a qualitative discourse analysis, which examined the issue of the status of Tok Pisin in terms of how it might be classified, with particular emphasis on its relationship with standard English, as well as the association of language in Papua New Guinea with concepts of unity and globalization and the role of agency in terms of both language maintenance and language loss. It was found that there seem to be several varieties of Tok Pisin in terms of its relationship with the English language, with differring levels of influence by English, including one kept deliberately separate by speakers with a strong sense of linguistic purity and/or nationalism. Tok Pisin was seen as a unifying factor in a multilingual country, and there was also some indication that it may serve a role for pan-Pacific unity through its connection with Solomons Pijin and Bislama. It was also, however, seen as a threat to the indigenous/rural languages, and was itself seen to be threatened by the continuing impact of English. Ultimately, it is suggested that Tok Pisin's vitality is driven by the need to communicate and by a growing awareness of its potential role as an identity marker and unifier, but that there is a parallel between the ambiguity surrounding Tok Pisin's classification as a language and its legal status. Additional suggested reasons for its lack of legal status are an unwillingess to legislate the position of a language seen as a threat to multilingualism, and a possible lack of interest due to Tok Pisin's inability to serve Papua New Guinea's global interests.