Cover not available
Part of
Narrative and Identity Construction in the Pacific Islands
Edited by Farzana Gounder
[Studies in Narrative 21] 2015
► pp. 101–116

‘Sometime is lies’

Narrative and identity in two mixed-origin island languages

We compare Pitkern-Norf’k and Palmerston narratives to each other and to narrative construction in other more well-known English dialects. This will demonstrate that narratives of these two beach community languages differ from the latter in many parallel ways. We discuss the narrative types ‘historical stories’ and ‘tall tales’ taken from the historical record and from our own fieldwork on Palmerston Island and Norfolk Island. Stories the islanders tell about themselves and their history will be the main focus as these illustrate the islanders’ conception of their identity. Pertinent questions of historicity arise when multiple conflicting accounts of an event exist, or when the islanders’ own oral histories differ from the information in the European colonial record.

Published online: 20 May 2015
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sin.21.05hen
References
Amoamo, M
(2012) Fieldwork in remote communities: An ethnographic case study of Pitcairn Island. Advances in Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, 6, 417–438. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2011) Remoteness and myth making: Tourism development on Pitcairn Island. Tourism Planning and Development, 8(1), 1–19. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bamberg, M. & Georgakopoulou, A
(2008) Small stories as a new perspective in narrative and identity analysis. Text & Talk-An Interdisciplinary Journal of Language, Discourse Communication Studies, 28(3), 377–396. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Burland, J
(1959) Unpublished transcript of an interview between John Burland, Ned Marsters and Peka Marsters. Wellington, New Zealand. Alexander Turnbull Library. MSX-8809.
(1960) The Marsters of Palmerston Island. Unpublished Manuscript held in the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. Micro-MS-0822.Google Scholar
Chafe, W
(Ed.) (1980) The pear stories: Cognitive, cultural, and linguistic aspects of narrative production. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Corbin, A
(1994) The lure of the sea: The discovery of the seaside in the western world, 1750–1840. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Deloughrey, E.M
(2013) Routes and roots: Navigating Caribbean and Pacific Island literatures. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai‘i Press.Google Scholar
Doddridge, P
(1742) Practical discourses on regeneration. London: Fenner & Hodges.Google Scholar
Evans, G
(2013) Ghost stories for children. Norfolk Island: Published by the author.Google Scholar
Hall, E
(1976) Beyond culture. Garden City NY: Doubleday.Google Scholar
Hart, J
(1891) Unpublished sworn statement. Rarotonga, Cook Islands National Archives, Palmerston Box.
Hau’ofa, E
(1993) Our sea of islands. In E. Waddell, V. Naidu, & E. Hau’ofa (Eds.), A new Oceania: Rediscovering our sea of islands (pp. 2–16). Suva, Fiji: The University of the South Pacific.Google Scholar
Hyvärinen, M
(Ed.) (2010) Beyond narrative coherence. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hendery, R
(2012) The relationship between language ideology and language change in a small, isolated community: the case of Palmerston Island. Te Reo, 55, 25–50.Google Scholar
(2013) Early documents from Palmerston Island and their implications for the origins of Palmerston English. The Journal of Pacific History, 48(3), 309–322. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hendery, R.L. & Ehrhart, S
(2013) Palmerston Island English. In B. Kortmann (Ed.), World atlas of variation in English grammar (pp. 628–642). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Hitch, G. & Hitch, M
(1988) Ghosts of Norfolk Island. Norfolk Island. Norfolk Island: Published by the author.Google Scholar
Källgård, A
(1993) Present-day Pitcairnese. English Worldwide, 4(1), 71–114. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Keenan, E.L. & Ochs, E.O
(1978) Becoming a competent speaker of Malagasy. In T. Shopen (Ed.), Languages and their speakers (pp. 113–158). Cambridge, MA: Winthrop.Google Scholar
Kenny, I
(1999) Hooked by the sea. Norfolk Island: Fish Norfolk.Google Scholar
Labov, W. & Waletzky, J
(1997) Narrative analysis: Oral versions of personal experience. Journal of Narrative & Life History, 7(1–4), 3–38.Google Scholar
Lee, H
(2009) Pacific migration and transnationalism: Historical perspectives. In S. Tupai Francis (Ed.), Migration and transnationalism: Pacific perspectives (pp. 7–41). Canberra: ANU E-Press.Google Scholar
Luria, A
(1979) The making of mind: A personal account of Soviet psychology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Marrington, P
(1981) In the sweet bye and bye: Reminiscences of a Norfolk Islander. Sydney: Reed.Google Scholar
Mühlhäusler, P
(1998) Some Pacific island utopias and their languages. Plurilinguismes: Des îles et des langues, 15, 27–47.Google Scholar
Mühlhäusler, P. & Stratford, E
(1999) Speaking of Norfolk Island: From dystopia to utopia? In R. King & J. Connell (Eds.), Small worlds, global lives and migration (pp. 213–234). London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Wiseman, B
(1977) Living on Norfolk Island. Norfolk Island: Photopress International.Google Scholar
Young, R.A
(1894) Mutiny of the Bounty and the story of Pitcairn Island 1790–1894. Oakland, CA: Pacific Press.Google Scholar
Zettersten, A
(1981) Studies in the Norfolkese Language. Copenhagen: Københavns Universitet, English Institute.Google Scholar