TOK PISIN IS BASED ON ENGLISH NOT GERMAN

There is a misunderstanding in this country being perpetuated as late as The National today that Tok Pisin is derived from German. This is completely false. 

The assumption was that the Germans came to New Guinea first before World War 1 which made German the basis of Tok Pisin.

There are words that derive from German. The Tok Pisin word "maski" means "It matters not". This comes from the German "macht nicht".  We all know the meaning of the tok pisin word "raus" if we remember the Nazi slogan "Juden raus" or "Jews get out".

The word (h)amamas seems to have come from the Latin and brought to the country by the Catholic Church. It would be related to the words of the romance languages to mean love - amo (Italian) amour (French) amorous, amiable, amicable (English).

If we check out the old dictionaries we find German words mainly related to ship building tools. The word meisel comes to mind. But these terms have become extinct like the dinosaurs.

The structure of Tok Pisin comes from English. As a teacher of Tok Pisin for many years, I found that it was a simple task to teach Tok Pisin to Australians because they spoke English. 

I once tried to teach a group of Koreans which was like teaching language to brick walls. The Korean language allowed no direct transfer to Tok Pisin. 

Australians just flowed along in the same basic patterns as English. Some Tok Pisin still had the flavour of uneducated Australians of a century ago.

That is why there is a direct transfer of structures in the elementary school phonics program on this blog. There is straight transfer from the Tok Pisin course at the RAAF School of Languages to the present English phonics program.

Yumi go
Yumi go
Yumi go long taun
Yumi go long taun
Yumi go insait long haus
Yumi go insait long haus
Yumi go kisim wara
Yumi go kisim wara 
Yumi go wantaim em
Yumi go wantaim em
Yumi go insait long haus wantaim ol
Yumi go insait long haus wantaim ol

Of course there are complex English patterns but there is direct transfer from simple sentence English to Tok Pisin. Tok Pisin can be used to explain detailed and complex concepts but at times there has to be a short narrative to get around the topic.  Please click:

DUK Tours: Tok Pisin Tree (Pidgin English)

www.duktours.net/2010/05/tok-pisin-tree-pidgin-english.html

By Bruce Copeland. Tok Pisin Tree (64 patterns). I came to PNG to serve at Igam Barracks during 1976-1977. I had just completed a Bahasa Indonesia course at ...