PART XVI
Oceania, continued:
New Zealand:
How to speak British beyond England (continued), course 308
Norfolk and Pitcairn Island dialects
The English spoken in the isolated Pacific islands of Norfolk and Pitcairn shows evidence of the islands’ long isolation from the world. In the case of Pitcairn, the local creole, Pitkern, shows strong evidence of its rural English 19th century origins, with an accent which has traces of both the English southwest and Geordie. It is a mixture of English and Tahitian. Pitkern is described by scholars as an Atlantic Creole due to the lack of connections with other English-based creoles of the Pacific. There are fewer than 50 speakers on Pitcairn Island, a number which has been steadily decreasing since 1971.
Examples of Pitkern dialect: (Pitkern) Whata way ye?=(English) How are you?; About ye gwen?=Where are you going?; You gwen whihi up suppa?=Are you going to cook supper?; I nor believe=I don’t think so; Ye like-a sum whettles?=Would you like some food?; Do’ mine.=It doesn’t matter/I don’t mind.; Wa sing yourley doing?=What are you doing?/What are you up to?; I se gwen ah big shep.=I’m going to the ship; Humuch shep corl ya?=How often do ships come here?; Cum yorley sulluns! Cum yorley=Come on all you kids!; I se gwen ah nahweh.=I’m going swimming.; Lebbe!=Let it be!; Gude=Good.
The Norfolk Island equivalent, Norfuk/ Norf’k, was greatly influenced in its development by Pitkern. The accents heard in the islands when English is used are similarly influenced but in a much milder way. It is a blend of 18th century English and Tahitian, originally introduced by Pitkern-speaking settlers from the Pitcairn Islands. Along with English, it is the co-official language of Norfolk Island. In the case of Norfolk Island, Australian English is the primary influence, producing an accent which is like a softened version of an Australian accent. The Pitcairn accent is for the most part largely indistinguishable from the New Zealand accent. It is an endangered, spoken rather than written language.
Examples of Norfuk dialect: [Nor’fuk] abed= [English] in bed; bor=neighbor/friend; cor blarst me=god blast me; craze=nag; dew yew keep a throshin=lit. carry on with the threshing, gen. goodbye/take care of yourself; dickey=donkey/one of the alternative slang terms for an ass; directly=as soon as/immediately; dudder=shiver/tremble; finish, at the/in the=eventually, as in “he gave it to her at the finish”; get on to someone=to tell someone off; guzunder=chamber pot. Derived from “goes-under”.
