Pitkern
Language · official in 1 country
Pitkern began as a contact pidgin between the Bounty mutineers and the Tahitians they took to uninhabited Pitcairn Island after the mutiny of 28 April 1789. It mixes English and Tahitian, and although it is spoken in the Pacific it is often called an Atlantic or semi-Atlantic creole. Its spelling has never been standardised.
The language on record
- Own name
- Pitkern
- ISO 639-3
- PIH
- Script
- Latin
- Family
- English and Tahitian creole
- Official in
- 1 country
Where Pitkern is official
The Pitcairn Islands, a dependency, hold the one record. Norfolk Island's Norfuk, which descends from Pitkern, has its own page.
Official beside Pitkern
About Pitkern
Who spoke the first Pitkern
After the mutiny the crew stopped at Tahiti and took 18 Polynesians, mostly women, to Pitcairn. The mutineers brought a spread of English: one came from the West Indies and spoke a forerunner of a Caribbean patois, one was a Scot from the Isle of Lewis, and Geordie and West Country speech both left traces. Whettles, "food", comes from victuals. The first children born on the island spoke a mix of non-standard English and the new contact language.
Scholars have called the result a cant, a patois and an Atlantic creole. The Atlantic label reflects the lack of any link with the English-based creoles of the Pacific.
When Pitkern moved to Norfolk Island
Pitkern gained local prestige in the 1830s and came into use in church and school. In 1856, 194 Pitcairn Islanders moved to Norfolk Island and kept speaking it at home, and there it developed into Norf'k. After 1914 the Australian government tried to end its use by restricting it in public places. Scholars disagree on how far the two now differ, and a careful comparison has been hard to make because Pitcairn is so hard to reach.
The pronouns include uklun for the first person plural, hami for the speaker and listener together and yoli for the second person plural. A 1951 recording of a Pitcairn teenager by the schoolteacher A. W. Moverley was later transcribed in phonetic script, and the poet Meralda Warren writes in the language. The number of speakers on Pitcairn has fallen steadily since 1971.
Common questions
Questions about Pitkern
How did Pitkern begin?
As a pidgin that let the English mutineers of the Bounty talk to the Tahitian women they brought to Pitcairn in 1789. The first island-born children grew up speaking it.
Is Pitkern the same as Norfuk?
Norfuk descends from it, carried to Norfolk Island by 194 Pitcairners in 1856. Some scholars see little difference between them, while others find more standard English in Norfuk.
Why is Pitkern called an Atlantic creole?
It has no connection with the other English-based creoles of the Pacific, and one of the mutineers came from the West Indies.