Sociolinguistics
Lack of Morphological Complexity
- Pidgins are characterized by a lack of morphological complexity:
The reduced morphological complexity of Pidgins is due to a lack of inflections. Number (singular/plural) is also not morphologically marked. The same goes for case (subject/object), tense, gender or grammatical agreement.
- In Tok Pisin, nouns and pronouns do not have inflections:
Long dispela wik, moa long 40 meri bilong Milen Be
Along this-fellow week, more along 40 woman belong Milne Bay
`This week, more than 40 women from Milne Bay
provins i bung long wanpela woksop long Alotau
Province he meet along one-fellow workshop along Alotau.
Province are meeting in a workshop at Alotau`
Ol opisa bilong Melanesin Envairomen Faundesen
All officer belong Melanesian Environment Foundation
‘The officers of the Melanesian Environment Foundation’
- E.g. Tok Pisin:
Ol opisa bilong Melanesin Envairomen Faundesen
All officer belong Melanesian Environment Foundation
‘The officers of the Melanesian Environment Foundation’
laip bilong famili
life belong family
‘life of families’
hevi bilong helt
heavy belong health
‘difficulties of health’
- In Tok Pisin bin is used as a past tense marker:
Bung i bin stat long Mande
Meeting he been start along Monday
‘The meeting began on Monday’