Re: What language is this (Thin Red Line)
From: Harlan Messinger (hmessinger.removethis_at_comcast.net)
Date: 02/19/05
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Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2005 07:27:31 -0500
Jacques Guy wrote:
> Harlan Messinger wrote:
>>Now that Jacques has replied, I look forward to further developments in
>>the is-it-Bislama-or-is-it-Solomons-Pijin debate.
>
> You cannot tell from this short sentence.
>
> The tell-tale difference is the word for "this":
>
> Bislama: haos ya "this house"
> Solom. : disfela haos
>
> Another is -fela as in disfela "this", bigfela "big one",
> mifela (we, excl.). That is Solomons Pidgin. Bislama has
> -vala instead, thus "mivala" not "mifela". You also often
> -pela for -fela in the Solomons, e.g. mipela. You don't hear
> -pala for -vala in Vanuatu. Another common tell-tale word
> is "this" (pronoun). Disfela in the Solomons (like the
> ajdective), but hemya in Vanuatu.
>
> So there is nothing in "God Yu tekem laef blong mi" that
> enables you to say which it is.
Is this a Hindi-Urdu, Serbian-Croatian, Luso-Brazilian kind of thing, in
that case?
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