Unserdeutsch language
| Unserdeutsch | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Papua New Guinea, Australia |
Native speakers | apparently extinct (2002)[1] |
|
German-based creole | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
uln |
| Glottolog |
unse1236[2] |
Unserdeutsch ("Our German"), or Rabaul Creole German, is a German-based creole language spoken primarily in Papua New Guinea. It was formed among the New Guinean children residing in a German-run orphanage in what was then German New Guinea. Fewer than 100 native speakers survive today, 15 of whom live in New Britain.
Most speakers of Unserdeutsch are bilingual; speaking either Standard German, English, Tok Pisin or Kuanua. Most speakers are middle-aged or older, although younger members of the community may comprehend the language. The descendant of a pidginised form of Standard German which originated in the Gazelle Peninsula of New Britain during German colonial times among the Catholic mixed-race (Vunapope) community. With increased mobility and intermarriage, it has been disappearing in the last few decades.
Unserdeutsch presumably influenced the development of its neighbour, Tok Pisin. Unlike Namibian Black German in Namibia, it is a creole; indeed, it is the only creole that developed from colonial German.[3]
References
- ↑ Unserdeutsch at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Unserdeutsch". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
- ↑ John Holm, 1989, Pidgins and Creoles, vol. 2: Reference Survey
Further reading
- Peter Mühlhäusler: Tracing the roots of pidgin German. In: Language and Communication, 4/(1)/1984, S. 27–57. ISSN 0271-5309
- Craig A. Volker: Rabaul Creole German Syntax. In: Working Papers in Linguistics, University of Hawaii 21/1989, S.153-189 (online)
- Craig A. Volker: The rise and decline of Rabaul Creole German, Language and Linguistics in Melanesia. In: John Lynch (ed.): Oceanic studies : proceedings of the first international conference on oceanic linguistics Australian Nat. Univ., Canberra 1996, ISBN 0-85883-440-5 (older edition available here)
External links
- Volker, The birth and decline of Rabaul Creole German
- Unserdeutsch homepage of the German Society for Endangered Languages
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