Acquisition of Tok Pisin phonology in the multilingual highlands of Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Purpose: Papua New Guinea (PNG) has extreme linguistic diversity reflected in its three national languages and sociolinguistic diversity comprising over 380 vernaculars or Tokples, English and the lingua francas, which include Tok Pisin (TP). This first clinical cross-sectional study of consonant acquisition in TP-speaking children sought to identify universal features and the impact of age on phonological development.

Method: A local picture naming task was developed and used to elicit a speech sample from 80 children (aged 3;0–6;11). Phonetic and phonemic inventories and developmental phonological processes were analysed across the sample and also in 12-month age groups.

Result: Statistically significant differences were found between the Percentage Consonants Correct (PCC) of the 3YO and other age groups. Mean PCC increased with age, but high variation within age groups meant differences were not statistically significant. Universal features observed included the early acquisition of plosives and late mastery of /r/. Language-specific features included processes such as fricatisation and earlier acquisition of /ʤ/ before /s/. Creolisation was seen in morphophonemic condensation and the influence of loanwords.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates both universal and language-specific features amidst wide diversity influencing phonological acquisition in creolising TP. This first phonological study of TP consonant development will inform future clinical speech-language pathology practice in PNG.

Keywords:

• phonological development
• PNG
• Tok Pisin
• creole

Acknowledgements

Jennifer Boer wishes to acknowledge the in-country support of the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) in providing cultural and linguistic training, social support and secure accommodation, without which this research would not have been possible. She also acknowledges the significant input of research assistant Janet Raphael and the participants, parents, and teachers from Ramba Road communities, Mt Kuiya and Rebiamul who significantly supported this research.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Supplemental material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2022.2080271.