Solomon Aelan Pijin Langguis Wik - Solomon Islands Pidgin Language Week

This early example of Solomon Islands Pijin usage (above) comes from the Western Pacific Archives (WPA) held in He Māra Mahara | Cultural Collections in Te Tumu Herenga | Libraries and Learning Services. Dating from 1906, it documents the robbery of Peter Oroar, a ‘bushman’ labourer from Malaita who, on his return from working on a Queensland sugar-cane plantation, was set upon by ‘saltwater’ men from the nearby island of Kwai. Oroar’s account of events was transcribed by Mr Watkinson, a local missionary, and sent to Charles Woodford, the British Resident Commissioner of the Solomon Islands.  Although Watkinson wrote Oroar’s account in English, the structure and vocabulary reflects that of contemporary Pijin.

While English is the official language of the Solomon Islands, Pijin is the lingua franca of this linguistically diverse island nation, which stretches from the Shortland Islands near Papua New Guinea to the Santa Cruz Islands close to Vanuatu. Across this huge 461,000km² of ocean, more than 70 Melanesian and Polynesian languages are spoken.¹ With so many local languages, it is not surprising that many Solomon Islanders speak three or four different languages: their own, their neighbours’, Pijin and English.²

Pijin is closely related to Tok Pisin, spoken in Papua New Guinea, and Bislama in Vanuatu. Together, they are often considered dialects of Melanesian Pidgin. These three (English-based) pidgins developed in the nineteenth century as a means of communication among Melanesian labourers working on sugar-cane plantations in Queensland, Samoa, Fiji and New Caledonia.  When labourers returned home, they took the pidgin languages used on the plantations with them. In the Solomon Islands, the use of Pijin by European missionaries, planters and colonial authorities as a way of communicating with the linguistically diverse locals helped it to survive and become a unique spoken language.³

Although Pijin remains a predominantly spoken language, there are many examples of written Pijin in Te Tumu Herenga | Libraries and Learning Services collections, including published word lists, textbooks used by members of the United States Peace Corps, illustrated pamphlets and children’s stories.