On the Possibility of Pidgin English Toponyms in Pacific Missions

Abstract

Summary This paper speculates about the possible existence of Pidgin English toponyms on the Melanesian Mission on Norfolk Island. The argument considers why modern historians and linguists studying the social and linguistic history of the Melanesian Mission missionaries, and why missionaries from earlier periods, who were documenting and studying local Melanesian languages spoken within the Mission’s activities, did not provide possible available information on Pidgin English toponyms. This noted absence of an explicit focus on the toponymic lexicon of Pidgin English and other marginalised languages highlights certain metalinguistic and social priorities held by linguists.