Norfuk ( pih, Norfuk) (increasingly spelt Norfolk) or Norf'k is the language spoken on

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together wit ...

(in the Pacific Ocean) by the local residents. It is a blend of 18th-century English and Tahitian, originally introduced by

Pitkern Pitkern, also known as Pitcairn-Norfolk or Pitcairnese, is a language spoken on Pitcairn and Norfolk islands. It is a mixture of English and Tahitian, and has been given many classifications by scholars, including cant, patois, and Atlantic Cre ...

-speaking settlers from the

Pitcairn Islands The Pitcairn Islands (; Pitkern: '), officially the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, is a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean that form the sole British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. The four is ...

. Along with English, it is the co-official language of Norfolk Island. Norfuk has always been a linguistic

cant Cant, CANT, canting, or canted may refer to: Language * Cant (language), a secret language * Beurla Reagaird, a language of the Scottish Highland Travellers * Scottish Cant, a language of the Scottish Lowland Travellers * Shelta or the Cant, a la ...

.Donald Laycock (1989) 'The Status of Pitcairn-Norfolk: Creole, Dialect or Cant? In Ammon (ed.) ''Status and Function of Language and Language Varieties'', Walter de Gruyter As travel to and from Norfolk Island becomes more common, Norfuk is falling into disuse. Efforts are being made to restore the language to more common usage, such as the education of children, the publication of English–Norfuk dictionaries, the use of the language in signage, and the renaming of some tourist attractions – most notably the

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

walk "" – to their Norfuk equivalents. In 2007, the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

added Norfuk to its list of

endangered language An endangered language or moribund language is a language that is at risk of disappearing as its speakers die out or shift to speaking other languages. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers and becomes a "dead lang ...

History

In the 1970s, the Norfolk community and specialist from mainland Australia noted that the Norfuk language was falling into decline and talks about how to implement Norfolk into the school system were under way. At this point in time, Norfuk did not have a standardized writing system as it was mostly an oral language. Several other individuals and groups took it upon themselves to help craft the necessary tools to help promote the Norfolk language. One of the first noted instances in which Norfolk was being taught in schools was in the 1980s, by

Faye Bataille __NOTOC__ Faye may refer to: Places * Faye, Loir-et-Cher, France, a village * Faye-d'Anjou, France, a village * La Faye, France, a village * Faye, Kentucky, Elliott County, Kentucky, United States * Faye (crater), a lunar impact crater in the south ...

. Additionally, the Society of the Descendants of Pitcairn Islanders was founded in 1977 and they proved to be a large driving force for the campaign to include Norfuk language as a teachable subject in schools. The first Norfolk dictionary was compiled in 1986 by Beryl Nobbs-Palmer. It was titled ''A Dictionary of Norfolk words and usages'' and contained examples of words in the Norfuk language and how to use them. The book ''Speak Norfuk Today'' was written by

Alice Buffett Alice Inez Buffett is a political figure and linguist from the Australian territory of Norfolk Island. Political role In 1981 Alice Buffett stood for and was elected to serve as a member of the Norfolk Legislative Assembly. Buffett was award ...

and Dr

Donald Laycock Donald Laycock (1936–1988) was an Australian linguist and anthropologist. He is best remembered for his work on the languages of Papua New Guinea. Biography He was a graduate of University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia and later ...

. It is an encyclopedia incorporating a large majority of the information about the Norfuk language and was one of the first instances in which the orthography of Norfuk was documented. Norfuk became a language of Norfolk Island in 2004 by virtue of the Norfolk Island Language (Norf'k) Act 2004 passed by the island's legislative assembly. In 2018,

Eve Semple Eve Semple (born 1976) is a politician, women's rights activist and curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" ...

and colleagues received a grant from the Australian Research Council, in order to promote and facilitate revival.

Relationship to Pitkern

Norfuk is descended predominantly from the

(Pitcairnese or Pi'kern) spoken by settlers from the Pitcairn Islands. The relative ease of travel from English-speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand to Norfolk Island, particularly when compared with that of travel to the Pitcairn Islands, has meant that Norfuk has been exposed to much greater contact with English relative to Pitkern. The difficulties in accessing the Pitcairn population have meant that a serious comparison of the two languages for mutual intelligibility has proven difficult.

Classification

Norfuk has been classified as an Atlantic Creole language, despite the island's location in the Pacific Ocean. The language is closely related to Pitkern but has no other close relatives other than its parent tongues of English and Tahitian. It is generally considered that English has had more of an influence upon the language than Tahitian, with words of Tahitian extraction being confined largely to

taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

subjects, negative characterisations, and adjectives indicating that something is undesirable., 2006 Many expressions which are not commonly used in modern English that are spoken in most areas of the world carry on in Pitkern. These expressions include words from British maritime culture in the age of sailing ships. The influence of

Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...

missionaries and the

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are also notable. In the mid-19th century, the people of Pitcairn resettled on Norfolk Island; later, some moved back. Most speakers of Pitkern today are the descendants of those who stayed. Pitkern and

Norfuk dialect Norfuk ( pih, Norfuk) (increasingly spelt Norfolk) or Norf'k is the language spoken on Norfolk Island (in the Pacific Ocean) by the local residents. It is a blend of 18th-century English and Tahitian, originally introduced by Pitkern-speakin ...

s are mutually intelligible, but differ significantly in vocabulary and grammar. The Norfolk language is ordered in subject verb object.

Phonology

Orthography

The language is largely a spoken rather than written language, and there is a lack of standardisation. However, a number of attempts have been made at developing an

orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and ...

for the language. Early attempts either attempted to enforce English spelling onto the Norfuk words, or used

diacritical marks A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacriti ...

to represent sounds distinct to the language.

, a Norfolk Island parliamentarian and Australian-trained linguist, developed a codified grammar and

for the language in the 1980s, assisted by Dr

, an

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

academic. Their book, ''Speak Norfuk Today,'' was published in 1988. This orthography has won the endorsement of the Norfolk Island government, and its use is becoming prevalent.

Vocabulary

The language itself does not have words to express some concepts, particularly those having to do with science and technology. Some Islanders believe that the only solution is to create a committee charged with creating new words in Norfuk rather than simply adopting English words for new technological advances. For example, Norfuk recently adopted the word , a Norfuk-ised version of ''computer''. Processes similar to this exist in relation to other languages around the world, such as the

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...

in New Zealand and the Faroese and Icelandic languages. Some languages already have official bodies, such as New Zealand's

Māori Language Commission The Māori Language Commission ( mi, Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori) is an autonomous Crown entity in New Zealand set up under the Māori Language Act 1987 with the following functions: # To initiate, develop, co-ordinate, review, advise upon, an ...

or France's

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

, for creating new words. Norfuk vocabulary has been heavily influenced by the history of Norfolk Island. Many words were created for specific animals or plants on the island and the way in which these things are named is unique to the Island of Norfolk. For example, many fish that are indigenous to the island were named either by the people who caught them or by whoever received them after dividing the catch. One such instance is the naming of the fish which received its name by a man named Sandford Warren after receiving the fish as his share.

Personal pronouns

There is also for 'it' in its object form.

References

External links

Learn Norfuk - Norfolk Island News
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Norfuk Language Languages of Oceania Endangered languages of Australia English-based pidgins and creoles Norfolk Island culture Society of Norfolk Island Languages of Australia Cant languages Vulnerable languages