Insuperable Pidgin?

Half a century had passed since the white men first sounded the warning. "This Pidgin nonsense," cried the globetrotting Baron von Hesse-Wartegg,-should be replaced "by a sensible German language." But in spite of the baron--and all the efforts of imperial German officials --the natives of the New Guinea protectorate went right on speaking Pidgin, the language built up from years of dealing with white traders. By World War II, G.I.s were being taught to say: "Cut-im grass belong head belong me" ("I want a haircut"), and the 23rd Psalm was still going native in a wide variety of ways: e.g., Australia's "Big Name watchem sheepysheep. Watchum blackfella. No more belly cry fella hob . . ."; New Guinea's "Deus iwas gut long mi, im igifim mi ol samtig ..."

Last week the old battle was raging again. The U.N.'s Trusteeship Council noted that Pidgin "has characteristics . . . which reflect now outmoded concepts of the relationship between indigenous inhabitants and immigrant groups" (U.N. Pidgin for "It's undemocratic"). The council's recommendation: that New Guinea's Australian administrators "develop plans to eliminate [Pidgin] completely." Would the resolution do the trick? Cried Paul Hasluck, Australia's Minister for Territories: "Just as foolish as suggesting that all Europeans should speak nothing but Russian next week."

Added the Sydney Morning Herald: "If 50 years ago the Germans found it impossible to defeat the spread of Pidgin . . . the problem now facing Australia is insuperable. The simple fact, of course, is that . . . Pidgin English has become a language in its own right, and no matter how many pious sentiments are expressed in the U.N. or elsewhere, its use and continued spread cannot be curbed." In other words, no matter how much busybody ol man bilog pies longwey (foreigners) fuss and fume, ol man bilong Nugini will go right on making toktok as they please.

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