Bislama – The Pidgin English Language of Vanuatu
Complete the notes below
Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.
1. Languages in Vanuatu
Local languages:
Actively spoken languages: 81
Declining languages: 17
Languages: 8
Total: 106
2. English is used in the system
3. In the past this language was described as
4. After 1860 Vanuatu people worked in Australian
5. After 1950 people moved to the
6. Bislama should be called a ‘ pidgin’
7. Words such as “from” may have more in Bislama
8. Less than 10% of words are of
9. Pacific words describe the natural world and also local
10. The word “long” acts as an important in Bislama
Questions Attempted
Test Results
| Question | Your Answer | Correct Answer | Result |
|---|
We’re Calculating Your Result
Solved Answers & Explanation
Question 1: Answer is extinct
Relevant Line: “There were a further 17 local languages that are in danger of dying out and eight that have been identified as extinct.”
Question 2: Answer is education
Relevant Line: “English is the most important and has official status largely because it is the medium for all education purposes.”
Question 3: Answer is broken
Relevant Line: “In fact, for many years it was commonly referred to as a broken language, and its use was discouraged.”
Question 4: Answer is plantation
Relevant Line: “Then from about 1860, a lot of people from Vanuatu traveled to Australia to work on the new plantations as laborers.”
Question 5: Answer is city
Relevant Line: “From about the 1950s, Vanuatu experienced a significant migration of its people from small villages into the city.”
Question 6: Answer is developed
Relevant Line: “Linguists prefer to describe Bislama as a developed pidgin because it has more rules and ideas than most simple pidgin languages.”
Question 7: Answer is meanings
Relevant Line: “The word ‘from’ in Bislama can also mean ‘because of,’ so we need to be aware that words can have a wider range of meanings in Bislama.”
Question 8: Answer is French
Relevant Line: “There are some words, around five to ten percent, that are derived from French.”
Question 9: Answer is culture
Relevant Line: “A relatively small number of words have been taken from local Pacific languages, usually to describe some aspect of the culture that is unique to the country.”
Question 10: Answer is preposition
Relevant Line: “The word ‘long’ is almost the only preposition in Bislama and may be used in place of a whole range of English words.”
Difficulty Level: Hard
This paper requires a deep understanding of linguistic concepts, historical context, and nuanced distinctions in word meanings. The vocabulary-based questions, in particular, demand careful attention to detail, making the overall difficulty level Hard.