Norfuk (increasingly spelled Norfolk) is the language spoken on Norfolk Island by the local residents. It is a blend of English of the 1700s and Tahitian originally introduced by settlers from the Pitcairn Islands who spoke Pitkern. It is a co-official languauge of Norfolk Island.^[2][3] Not to be confused with the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... For other meanings of Pacific, see Pacific (disambiguation). ... The factual accuracy of part of this article is disputed. ... Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The word Creole is an adaptation of the Castillian-Spanish word criollo, which came into English from French between 1595 and 1605. ... Writing systems of the world today. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. ... ISO 639-3 is in process of development as an international standard for language codes. ... Not to be confused with the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone meaning sound, voice) is the study of the sounds of human speech. ... Unicode is an industry standard designed to allow text and symbols from all of the writing systems of the world to be consistently represented and manipulated by computers. ... This chart shows concisely the most common way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is applied to represent the English language. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Events and trends The Bonneville Slide blocks the Columbia River near the site of present-day Cascade Locks, Oregon with a land bridge 200 feet (60 m) high. ... Tahitian, a Tahitic language, is one of the two official languages of French Polynesia (along with French). ... Pitkern (also Pitcairnese) is a creole language based on an 18th century dialect of English and Tahitian. ...

The language itself does not have words to express some concepts; some therefore describe it as a Cant, although many linguists now classify it as an Atlantic Creole language. ^[4] Some Islanders believe that the only solution is to create a committee charged with creating new words in Norfuk rather than simply adopting English words for new technological advances. For example, Norfuk recently adopted the word Kompyuuta, a Norfuk-ised version of Computer. Processes similar to this exist in relation to other languages around the world, such as the Māori language in New Zealand and the Icelandic language. Some languages already have official bodies (such as New Zealand's Māori Language Commission) creating new words. Cant is an example of a cryptolect, a characteristic or secret language used only by members of a group, often used to conceal the meaning from those outside the group. ... A creole language, or simply a creole, is a well-defined and stable language that originated from a non-trivial combination of two or more languages, typically with many distinctive features that are not inherited from either parent. ... A neologism (Greek νεολογισμός [neologismos], from νέος [neos] new + λόγος [logos] word, speech, discourse + suffix -ισμός [-ismos] -ism) is a word, term, or phrase which has been recently created (coined) — often to apply to new concepts, to synthesize pre-existing concepts, or to make older terminology sound more contemporary. ... Māori or Te Reo Māori, commonly shortened to Te Reo (literally the language) is an official language of New Zealand. ... Icelandic (íslenska) is a North Germanic language spoken in Iceland. ... New Zealands Māori Language Commission (Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori) is a State organisation set up under the Māori Language Act 1987 with the following functions: (a) To initiate, develop, co-ordinate, review, advise upon, and assist in the implementation of policies, procedures, measures...

As travel to and from Norfolk Island becomes more common, Norfuk is falling into disuse. Efforts are being made, however, to restore the language to more common usage - with education of children, the publication of English-Norfuk dictionaries, use of the language in signage, and the renaming of some tourist attractions (most notably the rainforest walk "A Trip Ina Stik") to their Norfuk equivalents.

Relationship to Pitkern

As mentioned above, Norfuk is descended predominantly from the Pitkern (Pitcairnese or Pi'kern) spoken by settlers from the Pitcairn Islands. The relative ease of travel from English-speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand to Norfolk Island, particularly when compared with that of travel to the Pitcairn Islands, has meant that Norfuk has been exposed to much greater contact with English than Pitkern has. The difficulties in accessing the Pitcairn population have meant that a serious comparison of the two languages for mutual intelligibility has been largely impossible.

Orthography

Due to the language's nature as being a spoken rather than written language^[5] and the lack of standardisation ^[6], a number of attempts have been made at developing an orthography for the language. Early attempts either attempted to enforce English spelling onto the Norfuk words ^[7], or used diacritical marks to represent sounds distinct to the language. The orthography of a language is the set of symbols (glyphs and diacritics) used to write a language, as well as the set of rules describing how to write these glyphs, including spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. ... A diacritical mark or diacritic, also called an accent mark, is a small sign added to a letter to alter pronunciation or to distinguish between similar words. ...

Alice Buffett, a Norfolk Island parliamentarian and Australian-trained linguist, developed a codified grammar and orthography for the language in the 1980s, assisted by Dr Donald Laycock, an Australian National University academic. Their book, Speak Norfuk Today, was published in 1988. This orthography has won the endorsement of the Norfolk Island government, and its use is becoming prevalent. ^[8] Alice Buffett was elected as a member of the Norfolk Legislative Assembly in 1981 [1], and is notable as the author of Speak Norfuk Today, widely recognised as the most complete resource on the Norfuk language in existance. ... The Norfolk Legislative Assembly has 9 members, elected for a three year term. ... The orthography of a language is the set of symbols (glyphs and diacritics) used to write a language, as well as the set of rules describing how to write these glyphs, including spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. ... The 1980s refers to the years of and between 1980 and 1989. ... Dr Donald Don Laycock, was a graduate of Newcastle University, NSW, Australia and later worked as a researcher at Adelaide University in Anthropology. ... The Australian National University, or ANU, is a public university located in Canberra, the national capital of Australia. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Vocabulary

Personal Pronouns

Miscellaneous

See also

• List of Norfuk words and English meanings
• Pitkern language
• Norfolk Island

Norfuk is a language spoken in Norfolk Island: // Expressions Wataweih - Hello. ... Pitkern (also Pitcairnese) is a creole language based on an 18th century dialect of English and Tahitian. ...

References

1. ^ Ethnologue - Pitcarin-Norfolk, retrieved April 9, 2007
2. ^ The Dominion Post, April 21, 2005 (page B3)
3. ^ The Daily Telegraph, Save our dialect, say Bounty islanders, retrieved April 6, 2007
4. ^ Avram, Andrei (2003). "Pitkern and Norfolk revisited". English Today 19 (1): 44-49. doi:10.1017/S0266078403003092. Retrieved on April 9, 2007. 
5. ^ Buffett, Alice, An Encyclopædia of the Norfolk Island Language, 1999
6. ^ Ingram, John. Norfolk Island-Pitcairn English (Pitkern Norfolk), University of Queensland, 2006
7. ^ Buffett, Alice, An Encyclopædia of the Norfolk Island Language, 1999, p. xvi
8. ^ Buffett, David E., An Encyclopædia of the Norfolk Island Language, 1999, p. xii

Norfuk language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia