Solomon Islands Pidgin
| Pijin | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Solomon Islands |
|
Native speakers
|
24,000 (1999) 300,000 L2 speakers (1999) |
|
English Creole
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | piji1239 |
| Linguasphere | 52-ABB-cd |
Pijin (Solomons Pidgin or Neo-Solomonic) is a language spoken in the Solomon Islands. It is closely related to Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea and Bislama of Vanuatu; these might be considered dialects of a single language. It is also related to Torres Strait Creole of Torres Strait, though more distantly.
In 1999 there were 307,000-second- or third-language speakers with a literacy rate in first language of 60%, a literacy rate in second language of 50%.
During the early nineteenth century, an English Jargon, known as Beach-La-Mar, developed and spread through the Western Pacific as a language used among traders (Lingua franca) associated with the whaling industry at the end of the 18th century, the sandalwood trade of the 1830s, and the bêche-de-mer trade of the 1850s.
Between 1863 and 1906, blackbirding was used for the sugar cane plantation labour trade in Queensland, Samoa, Fiji and New Caledonia. At the beginning of the trade period, the Australian planters started to recruit in the Loyalty Islands early 1860s, Kingsmill Islands and the Banks Islands around the mid-1860s, New Hebrides and the Santa Cruz Islands in the early 1870s, and New Ireland and New Britain from 1879 when recruiting became difficult. Around 13,000 Solomon Islanders were taken to Queensland during this labour trade period.
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