Relative clauses and register expansion in Tok Pisin

Abstract

The linguistic correlates of register expansion constitute a fertile area for research within pidgin and creole studies given that there have been few investigations into how different registers within expanded pidgins and creoles may be characterized linguistically. A diachronic investigation of variation in relativization strategies in media Tok Pisin, an English‐based pidgin/creole, reveals that certain innovations in relative clause marking are related to the emergence of informationally‐focused literate genres which rely heavily on structural elaboration features that facilitate the dense packaging of informational texts. The addition of new structural variants such as ‘husat’ and ‘we’ for marking relative clauses offers greater stylistic manoeuvrability, and the trend towards more explicit marking of relative clauses in media Tok Pisin is arguably motivated by the need to manipulate and structure complex, cohesive written discourse. These innovations are ultimately related to the functional expansion of Tok Pisin as it evolves to meet new communicative and stylistic requirements.