relative clauses in Tok Pisin/Solomons Pijin

[Miriam Meyerhoff]

Apologies for any cross-posting.

Dear All,

In Bislama, it is possible (but not necessary) to introduce relative 
clauses with the relativiser <we>

Pijin we mi sutum i foldaon long tri
bird REL 1sg shoot AGR fall PREP tree
'the bird I shot fell out of the tree'

Blad blong pijin we mi sutum i folfoldaon
blood of bird REL 1s shoot AGR drip
'the blood of the bird I shot dripped down'

Mi sutum wan pijin we mifala i kolem grinpijin
'I shot a bird REL we call 'grinpijin' '

Mi sutum wan pijin we (hem) i bigwan tumas
'I shot a bird REL was very big'

etc. You'll get the idea of the productivity of the relativiser <we>, 
presumably from Eng. 'where' or possibly 'way'.

Dutton's 1973 intro to Tok Pisin does not show an overt relativiser 
in most relative clauses but I do not know if this is the case, and I 
do not know what the situation is in Solomons Pijin.

I would be interested to hear from anybody regarding the use of a 
/we/-like morpheme to introduce relative clauses in Tok Pisin and 
Pijin. I would also be interested to know if people working on 
vernacular languages in this region find similar uses of a 'where' 
morpheme generalised as a relativiser.

If you reply to me personally, I will summarise the responses for the list.

Many thanks.

Miriam
-- 

Miriam Meyerhoff
Reader, Linguistics & English Language
University of Edinburgh
14 Buccleuch Place
Edinburgh EH8 9LN
SCOTLAND, UK

ph. +44 131 651-1836 (direct line); 650-3628 or 651-1842 (main office)
fax: +44 131 650-6883

http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/~mhoff/
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