naming a language
Matthew S. Dryer
dryer at buffalo.edu
Wed Mar 18 21:04:08 UTC 2009
I have on a couple of occasions in Papua New Guinea noticed a look of amusement
or puzzlement on the face of a villager when, in speaking to them in English, I
refer to the lingua franca there as Tok Pisin. Why, they seem to be asking
themselves, is he referring to the language by its name in Tok Pisin rather than
by its name in English, which in New Guinea is "Pidgin".
Matthew
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