CHANGE IN NEW GUINEA

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22591, 22 December 1938, Page 13

CHANGE IN NEW GUINEA

Christchurch Man's Impressions

PIDGIN ENGLISH AS THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

Some impressions of his experiences while prospecting for oil in the bush of New Guinea were related to a representative of "The Press" yesterday by Mr B. W. Collins, who has just returned to his home in Christchurch. Mr Collins, who has been absent from New Zealand for about 18 months, referred particularly to the rise of pidgin English as the universal language for both black and white in New Guinea.

The natives in the coastal areas, Mr Collins said, were mainly friendly, but further inland there were still hostile tribes to be met with. The natives were generally speaking, representatives of one of the three great races, the pygmies, Papuans, or Melanesians.' Villages were predominantly people by one or other of these races, and although only two miles might separate settlements, there would be no intercourse between them. Even comparatively small districts were divided among hundreds of tribes, each one speaking a different language from the others. Inter-tribal hostility was, therefore, encouraged. Even in trade no efforts were made to cultivate friendly relations, for goods were usually exchanged at a river, one tribe depositing its pots on the one side, and another tribe leaving its baskets of food on the other. Barely four months ago a Lutheran missionary had been wounded in a district which was being visited for the first time. But for the fact that he could get no guides, Mr Collins would himself have entered this territory. As it was, he was on one occasion not more than a day's march, or about 10 miles, from the tribe. Even in controlled areas villagers did not visit one another unless they were accompanied by a white man. The principal reason for this aloofness and hostility, Mr Collins thought, was the lack of a common language. It was useless, he said, for a foreigner to master a native tongue, because after a few miles of travel he would be quite unintelligible to the inhabitants. It was, therefore, a matter of extreme importance, and of very great interest to watch the rapid spread of pidgin English as the universal means of conversation not only between black and white, but also between the natives themselves. At times, even, the representatives of the various European countries could be found conversing in it, too, as it might be their only common tongue. It was most significant that a marked increase in inter-tribal friendship had followed its adoption by the natives. Only Two Prepositions

Pidgin English as spoken by the boys and taught by the missionaries, Mr Collins explained, was_ a language of its own, distinct from the corrupt English one might read about or hear planters use. It had a consistent syntax and grammar. Transitive verbs, for instance, were distinguishable from intransitive by the addition of the syllable "im"; thus, "You catchim chair." There is no gender, no cases, no verb "to be." "Long" and "belong" are the only two prepositions, and are used in many more senses than in English. To the ordinary Englishman the language is unintelligible, while its constructions are the same as those used by the Chinese. The natives, Mr Collins said, were often anxious to learn the new language, which was about the only subject taught in the mission schools. Many were anxious to learn more of European ways, and on one occasion three from a distant village had attached themselves to his party, and followed him out to the coast. There they had been employed on plantations, learned pidgin English and the customs of the more sophisticated natives, received proper medical treatment, and had eventually returned to their village, one of them having been appointed the Government's representative. Both the chief of the tribe and the Government representative were held responsible for the proper conduct of the village affairs and the proper treatment of visiting white men, who were usually accommodated in the special house that the tribe was made to build for the Government's convenience. Indentured labour, which j was usually recruited from distant villages by a contractor, was paid about 6s a month if working on a plantation, 10s if engaged in mining or carrying, and perhaps 15s a montjj, if a good cook in one of the larger towns. Half of their pay was withheld by the Government, which paid them in a lump sum when their term of service was completed. In addition, they were first provided with a plate, spoon, and box, and with tobacco, meat, and matches each week, cloth each month, and a blanket every year. The natives became good workmen, and theirs was a case, concluded Mr Collins, where civilisation was bringing more benefits than disadvantages. Medical attention and regular and improved food were having their effect in building up a better physique for a people always threatened with a food shortage during one season of the year, and generally riddled with disease.