Pitkern, also known as Pitcairn-Norfolk or Pitcairnese, is a language spoken on

Pitcairn 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 ...

and

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

islands. It is a mixture of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and Tahitian, and has been given many classifications by scholars, including

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 ...

patois ''Patois'' (, pl. same or ) is speech or language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. As such, ''patois'' can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects or vernaculars, but not commonly to jargon o ...

, and Atlantic Creole. Although spoken on

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

islands, it has been described as an Atlantic Creole due to the lack of connections with other

English-based creole An English-based creole language (often shortened to English creole) is a creole language for which English was the '' lexifier'', meaning that at the time of its formation the vocabulary of English served as the basis for the majority of the cre ...

s of the Pacific. There are fewer than 50 speakers on Pitcairn Island, a number which has been steadily decreasing since 1971.

History

Following the

Mutiny on the Bounty The mutiny on the Royal Navy vessel occurred in the South Pacific Ocean on 28 April 1789. Disaffected crewmen, led by acting-Lieutenant Fletcher Christian, seized control of the ship from their captain, Lieutenant William Bligh, and set h ...

on 28 April 1789, the British mutineers stopped at

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...

and took 18 Polynesians, mostly women, to remote Pitcairn Island and settled there. A pidgin was formed based on English and Tahitian so that the English mutineers could communicate with the Tahitian women they brought to the previously uninhabited Pitcairn Island. The Pitkern language was influenced by the diverse

English dialects Dialects are linguistic varieties that may differ in pronunciation, vocabulary, spelling and grammar. For the classification of varieties of English only in terms of pronunciation, see regional accents of English. Overview Dialects can be defi ...

and accents of the crew. Geographically, the mutineers were drawn from as far as the West Indies, with one mutineer being described as speaking a forerunner of a Caribbean patois. One was a Scot from the Isle of Lewis. At least one, the leader

Fletcher Christian Fletcher Christian (25 September 1764 – 20 September 1793) was master's mate on board HMS ''Bounty'' during Lieutenant William Bligh's voyage to Tahiti during 1787–1789 for breadfruit plants. In the mutiny on the ''Bounty'', Christian se ...

, was a well-educated man, which at the time made a major difference in speech. Both Geordie and

West Country dialects West Country English is a group of English language varieties and accents used by much of the native population of South West England, the area sometimes popularly known as the West Country. The West Country is often defined as encompass ...

have obvious links to some Pitkern phrases and words, such as ''whettles'', meaning food, from ''victuals''. The first children born on Pitcairn Island mainly spoke a mixture of non-standard varieties of English and the contact language. In the 1830s, Pitkern's local prestige increased, and the language started to be used in church and school. In 1856, 194 residents of Pitcairn Island moved to Norfolk island, where many residents continued to use Pitkern in their households. After 1914, the Australian government tried to end the use of Pitkern/Norf'k by restricting its use in public spaces.

Relationship to Norf'k

Norf'k is descended predominantly from Pitkern. When the residents of Pitcairn Island moved to Norfolk Island, they brought the language with them. The language developed and changed over time. The relative ease of travel from English-speaking countries such as Australia,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

to Norfolk Island, particularly when compared with that of travel to the Pitcairn Islands, has meant that Norf'k 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. The exact relationship between these two languages is a point of contention for scholars. Some believe that the difference between Pitkern and Norf'k is negligible, while others believe that Standard English is more present in Norf'k than it is in Pitkern.

Common phrases

Pronouns included 'we/us' (or just 'us', with for 'we'; commonly spelled ), 'you and I' / 'you and us', and 'you (plural)'. ''Note: Pitkern spelling is not standardised.''

Excerpts from a transcription of Pitkern

The sentences below are excerpted from a longer dialogue held in 1951 between a teenage speaker of Pitkern and A.W. Moverley, a foreigner who worked as a schoolteacher on Pitcairn during the mid-20th century. The dialogue was recorded by Moverley and later transcribed in the

International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation ...

by A.C. Gimson, with translations to English provided by Moverley.

Poetry in Pitkern

Some poetry exists in Pitkern. The poems of

Meralda Warren Meralda Elva Junior Warren (born 28 June 1959) is an artist and poet of the Pitcairn Islands, a remote British Overseas Territory in the South Pacific. She works in both English and Pitkern, the island's distinctive creole language. Her book, ...

are of particular note.

References

External links

* Ross, Alan Strode Campbell and A.W. Moverly. ''The Pitcairnese Language'' (1964). London: Oxford University Press. * ''South Pacific phrasebook'' (1999). Hawthorn, Australia: Lonely Planet Publications.
History of writing pitkern and norf-k
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitkern Language Languages of Oceania English-based pidgins and creoles Pitcairn Islands culture Society of the Pitcairn Islands Languages of the Pitcairn Islands Languages of the United Kingdom Cant languages Vulnerable languages