Pidgin English and the Melanesian mission

Abstract

In a recent column in the journal of Pidgin and Creole languages (1999), I emphasized the importance of missionary sources for our understanding of the early history of Pacific and particularly Melanesian Pidgin English. In this paper I would like to address the role of one such mission, the Anglican Melanesian Mission. Its attitude to Pidgin English was generally negative and many of its members declined to use or even document the language. This negative attitude was shared by the Lutheran missions but not by the most Catholic and Presbyterian missions. In developing Mota as an alternative lingua franca for Melanesia, the Melanesian Mission contributed to slowing down the spread of Pidgin English in some areas but in the long term was unable to arrest this process. This article forms part of two ongoing projects of mine: the documentation of early Melanesian Pidgin English and the history of language policies and practices of the Melanesian Mission.