Pidgin English in Nauru

Abstract

This article reports on a preliminary study of an English-lexifier Pidgin spoken on the tiny Pacific island of Nauru. This pidgin has distinctive features of both Chinese Pidgin English and Pacific Pidgin English, as well as many unique characteristics. Socio-historical information shows that these two forms of Pidgin English have come into contact in Nauru and the data suggests that pidgin mixing, a form of koineization, has occurred. The linguistic consequences of such a mixture are similar to those of the mixing of other linguistic subsystems such as regional dialects. The data also supports observations about the problems of genetic classification and the significance of mixing in tracing the development of pidgins in the Pacific and other areas.