On the Possibility of Pidgin English Toponyms in Pacific Missions
Summary
This paper speculates about the possible existence of Pidgin English toponyms on the Melanesian Mission on Norfolk Island. The argument considers why modern historians and linguists studying the social and linguistic history of the Melanesian Mission missionaries, and why missionaries from earlier periods, who were documenting and studying local Melanesian languages spoken within the Mission’s activities, did not provide possible available information on Pidgin English toponyms. This noted absence of an explicit focus on the toponymic lexicon of Pidgin English and other marginalised languages highlights certain metalinguistic and social priorities held by linguists.
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References
Berleant-Schiller, Riva
Bright, William
Cheyne, Andrew
Codrington, Robert Henry
n.d. Letter from Robert Henry Codrington to Tom Codrington, Journal and Letters (Reel M994), Letters 4, Dec. 1872–1881, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney.
Codrington, Robert Henry & John Palmer
Coombe, Florence
Farr, Julia
Fox, Charles Elliot
Hilliard, David
Hoare, Merval
Montgomery, Henry Hutchinson
Mühlhäusler, Peter
Nash, Joshua
Wilson, Cecil