ABSTRACT
Although English and French were the official languages for over eighty years, the effective language of wider communication among islanders and expatriate settlers was Bislama, an English-related pidgin, similar in origin and form to Tok Pisin, the lingua franca of Papua New Guinea. Since independence, the three languages-English, French and Bislama-have been given official status and Bislama is widely used in commerce, government and international dealings. The norm for standard English is set by the local anglo-phone settlers, many of whom have been educated in Australia or New Zealand. Bislama is being expanded lexically and syntactically and is used for one-third of the items in the most widely-read local paper, Tam Tam: Bill i pas blong mekim jenis Paliamen hemi appruvum finis Bill blong jenisim samfala wod mo toktok insaed long Konstitusem.
