Survey chapter: Bislama

Structure data for these languages can be found in structure dataset 23.

1. Introduction

Most of the population of the Republic of Vanuatu (estimated 218,000, July 2009) have some fluency in Bislama. It is used as a lingua franca, and increasingly as a first language, especially in urban centres (Port Vila, Efate and Luganville, Santo). The name of the language is variably pronounced /ˈbislama/ and /ˈbiʃlama/ in the language itself. An anglicized pronunciation may involve stress shift: /bɪˈslɑmə/. Vanuatu is an archipelago of more than 80 islands located in the south-west Pacific. Many Ni-Vanuatu people live and work in Australia and New Zealand, permanently or seasonally. The c. 80–100 vernacular languages of Vanuatu mainly fall into the Eastern Oceanic family; there are some Polynesian outliers in the central and southern islands. Vanuatu became independent in 1980. Before that, it was jointly administered as a colony by both Britain and France (and was known then as the New Hebrides).


2. Sociohistorical background

Archaeological evidence suggests that Vanuatu has been settled since c. 3200 BP. The region is characterized by extensive linguistic diversity; it is likely that during the history of Vanuatu some local languages have achieved lingua franca status in specific regions. It is not known how much these putative lingue franche were restructured or were distinctive by virtue of contact-induced change. Another pattern may have been extensive individual multilingualism. Both scenarios are found in Vanuatu today.

     First recorded contact of Ni-Vanuatu people with Europeans was in 1606 with the voyage of Pedro Fernández de Quirós, a Portuguese navigator who was sailing under a Spanish flag and who sent a boat ashore on Sakau Island off the north east coast. De Quirós’ trip was followed in 1769 by Louis-Antoine de Bougainville’s voyage. James Cook charted most of the Vanuatu archipelago in six weeks between 18 July and 31 August, 1772 and dubbed the islands the New Hebrides; this is what the islands were known as during the colonial period. Missionaries arrived in the region for long-term settlement in the 19th century, and it was probably a London Missionary Society ship that started the sandalwood trading rush in 1853. This lasted until the sandalwood was exhausted in 1865. Much of the external trade during the early and mid-1800s was with whalers and traders from China including those interested in the biche de mer ‘sea cucumber’, from which the language Bislama derives its name. By the end of the 1860s, ships recruiting labourers for plantation work in the south-west Pacific (mainly what is now Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, and Samoa) were frequenting the islands of Vanuatu. Recruits were mainly young men between 15 and 35, though a number of women also signed on for three years’ work. The number of women is estimated at approximately 6-10% throughout Melanesia. Some labourers may have been effectively kidnapped, or “blackbirded” as the practice was known. The labour trade had a significant impact on the demographics of Vanuatu. Between 1870 and 1880 alone, 25,358 young men and women (out of a population of c. 100,000 at that time) left. Simultaneously, the islands experienced significant depopulation due to introduced diseases. Workers on the plantations generally returned to Vanuatu after their contracts were up, and with them, they brought back material culture and the Pidgin English spoken on the plantations in northern Queensland. This ultimately developed into the Bislama spoken today. For many years, especially in outer islands, Bislama carried connotations of roughness or urban savvy; it could be seen as inappropriate for women to use the language.

     Colonial administration of the islands was shared by the British and the French from 1906 to 1980 under a Joint Condominium government. During the Second World War, Vanuatu was an important staging post for the allied war in the South Pacific. Over 250,000 American troops (plus smaller numbers of New Zealanders and other Allies) passed through or were stationed in Vanuatu.

     Since independence, Vanuatu has had a stable democracy and a growing economy, but the per capita GDP remains quite low. A subsistence lifestyle continues to be typical in most islands. Exports are largely agricultural. Tourism, fishing, and financial services are important sectors of the economy.

     More detailed discussion of the history outlined here can be found in Clark (1979-1980), Crowley (1990), and Meyerhoff (2000a, on which I have drawn for this section and where full references can be found).

3. Sociolinguistic situation

Bislama is one of three official languages in Vanuatu, alongside English and French. The Constitution recognizes it as national language (with the proviso that it may, in theory, be replaced by any other autochthonous vernacular). A legacy of the colonial Joint Condominium is that families today must choose either French or English as the medium of education (in some areas, it is Hobson’s choice as there may be only one operative school). Some teaching in vernacular languages takes place in the first year or primary. There has been some effort to introduce basic education in Bislama in the urban centres, where it is the only L1 for many children, but there is considerable resistance to this because many people still perceive it to be “bad English”.

     Bislama is widely used in everyday life in Vanuatu. It is broadcast on national and private radio stations, used for some news reports on television, and articles (sports, news and lifestyle) and editorial pieces may be written in Bislama in the Vanuatu newspapers. It is the default medium of communication between people from different islands in Vanuatu. The Bible’s Old and New Testaments (with Psalms) have been translated into Bislama. There are published instructional materials (popular and more serious teaching materials) as well as a dictionary and grammar of the language.

     There is no standardized form of Bislama. The Vanuatu Literacy Council proposed a standard orthography in the 1990s, but this was not widely adopted. The orthographic conventions used by the Bible translation team are effectively the only written standard, but there is considerable variability in how Bislama is written and spoken. There are regional influences in the pronunciation, e.g. insertion of epenthetic vowels in consonant clusters by speakers from some of the north-eastern islands, prosodic features (often described as “pulling”) associated with speakers from Tanna, more or less prenasalization of intervocalic stops, presence or absence of word-initial /h/, devoicing of syllable-initial and final stops, etc. Some of these may be reflected in written representations of the language. In addition, perceptions about the structure of the language emerge in writing, e.g. the particle i (see §6) is a prosodic clitic and is often written attached to either a preceding pronoun (hemi instead of standard hem i) or a following verb (istap instead of standard i stap).

There has been no systematic published account of the spoken regional variation in Bislama. There is some anecdotal evidence that regional variation extends beyond pronunciation, e.g. the extent to which certain complementizers are used productively to introduce all subordinate clauses, or the use of se as a main verb in copular constructions. There is some lexical variation; this may be a reflex of an individual’s primary language of education, or it may reflect which colonial language was more dominant in a particular area.

Use of Bislama continues to spread, and some speakers of vernacular languages perceive it to be a threat to the vitality of their home language.

4. Phonology

Table 1. Vowels

front

central

back

close

i

u

mid

e

o

open

a

The phonology and phonotactics of Bislama are described in Crowley (2004). Crowley says that there are only five phonemic vowels (see Table 1). While this is fundamentally correct, it is worth noting that quite a few speakers systematically distinguish tense and lax high front vowels in at least the pair [sit] ‘sheet’ and [sɪt] ‘shit’.

Diphthongs with rising offglides are /ai/, /oi/, /ei/ and /au/ (conventionally written <ae>, <oe>, <ei> and <ao>, e.g. klaem [klaim] ‘climb’, noes [nois] ‘noise’, plei [plei] ‘play’, nao [nau] ‘now’). Vowel combinations with open off-glides are /ua/, /oa/, /ia/, and /ea/, as in pua ‘poor’, loa ‘law’, bia ‘beer’, and wea ‘where’. The spelling of these is essentially phonemic. Word-finally there is variation between pure (monophthong) vowels and vowels with off-glides only with central vowels, e.g. me ~ mei ‘May’, mo ~ moa ‘more’, we ~ wea ‘where’, blo ~ blou ‘blow’. It is not entirely clear what the phonemic status of [oa] and [ea] is. Like [ua] and [ia] (which do not alternate with monophthong variants), they seem to head two syllables, while [ai] etc. head only one, and hence are diphthongs. Bislama also has two semi-vowels: [j] and [w].

     Table 2 shows the phonemic consonants. In addition, there is a glottal fricative [h].

Table 2. Consonants

bilabial

labio-dental

alveolar

palatal

velar

plosive

voiceless

p

t

k

voiced

b

d

g

nasal

m

n

ŋ

tap or trill

ɾ/r

fricative

voiceless

f

s

voiced

v

affricate

voiceless

<j>

lateral

l

Crowley (2004) shows a voiceless palatal stop /c/ (written <j>), but this seems to be an error. In earlier work (Crowley, no date), he is clear that <j> represents a palatal affricate and this is my own observation.

     The /r/ phoneme may be realized as a tap (more common) or a trill. Bislama derives mainly from non-rhotic varieties of English and this is reflected in the realization of, e.g. brata ‘brother’, neva ‘never’, tanem ‘turn’.

     Bislama uses a roughly phonemic orthography (but see §3).

5. Noun phrase

Bislama has no nominal gender system. It marks plurality with the determiner ol before the head noun (cf. (1)). A minority of speakers, mainly in urban centres, and perhaps only those with high English proficiency, may irregularly use a noun with plural suffix -s, with or without a Bislama determiner (cf. (2) and (3)). Nouns (including heavy NPs) may be followed by a postposed particle ia (4) which marks definiteness or specificity and can be used as a demonstrative (more research needs to be done on this; I use the abbreviation def in all examples simply in the interests of brevity).

(1)
Kafsaedem
capsize
long
in
ol
pl
klin
clean
botel.
bottle
Pour into clean bottles. VWH, 27 June 1998, p.12)1
(2)
[...]
[...]
bae
irr
oli
agr
putumaot
put.out
olgeta
3pl
praes
price
blong
of
sam
indf
goods
goods
we
comp
ol
pl
stoa
store
oli
agr
mas
must
folem.
follow
[...] they will decide the prices of some goods that stores will have to follow. (VWH, 20 June 1998, p.6)
(3)
Fulap
plenty
oli
agr
stap
cont
holem
hold
ol
pl
degrees
degrees
[...]
[...]
Many of them hold degrees [...]. (VWH, 27 June 1998, p.10)
(4)
a.
Waef
wife
blong
of
late
late
Pasta
pastor
Bill
Bill
Camden
Camden
tu
too
i
agr
stap
stay
blong
purp
witnesem
witness
impotan
important
seremoni
cerymony
ia.
def
The wife of the late Pastor Bill Camden also was there to witness this important ceremony. (VWH, 20 June 1998, p.6)
b.
Disison
decision
we
comp
Vanair
Vanair
board
board
i
agr
tekem
take
ia,
def
hem
3sg
i
agr
blong
purp
helpem
help
ol
pl
pipol
people
[...]
[...]
The decision that the Vanair board has taken is designed to help people [...]. (TP, 10 June 1998, p.5)

Indefinite nouns occur with wan or sam (singular and plural respectively).

Table 3. Pronouns

singular

dual

trial

plural

1 (excl)

mi

mitufala

mitrifala

mifala

1 (incl)

––

yumitu

yumitri

yumi

2

yu

yutufala

yutrifala

yufala

3

hem

tufala

trifala

olgeta

Bislama has a fairly typical Oceanic pronominal system, distinguishing dual and trial as well as singular and plural. Pronouns are free forms (i.e. can be used in isolation to answer a question such as ‘Who brought the nice cake?’ Mifala ‘We did; Us’). Hem (3sg) is gender-neutral. Pronouns can be focused by postposing nomo ‘only’ or wan ‘one’ (Bislama does not have a cleft construction for focusing, see §8).

     Coordination of pronouns traditionally occurs with the connective wetem ‘with’, rather than the connective mo ‘and’, e.g. Mi wetem Sale i go long Aore ‘Sale and I went to Aore, but in younger and urban speakers it is possible to hear Mi mo Sale i go long Aore. The plural pronouns may combine with a specification of some members, e.g. Mitufala wetem Sale ‘We (dual) and Sale’, i.e. ‘Sale and I’.

     The normal demonstrative pronoun is hemia (hem-ia [3sg-def]), e.g. Yu wantem kaliko ia? No, mi wantem hemia. ‘Do you want this fabric? No, I want that one.’ The interrogative wanem ‘what’ can be used in relative clauses as well, as in (5).

(5)
Pakoa
Pakoa
hem
3sg
i
agr
no
neg
bin
ant
glad
glad
long
at
wanem
what
we
comp
i
agr
hapen.
happen
Pakoa was not happy about what happened. (VWH, 13 June 1998, p.7)

     Adnominal possessives are formed with a prepositional phrase blong X ‘of X’ following the noun, e.g. pikinini blong mi i gat naen yia my child is nine years old’.

     Indefinite pronouns are samting ‘something’ (cf. (6), (9)), wanem ‘what’ (cf. (5)) and (wan/sam) man ‘someone; people’ (cf. (7) and (8)). There are no negative polarity forms in traditional Bislama, but some speakers (perhaps those with higher English proficiency) may use enibodi in the scope of negation.

(6)
I
agr
gat
have
(wan)
(one)
samting
indf
longwe
there
i
agr
brok
broken
finis.
compl
Something over there has broken.
(7)
Wan
one
man
man
i
agr
flatem
flatten
kakae
food
ia
def
finis,
compl
be
but
mi
1sg
no
neg
save
know
huia.
who.def
Somebody finished this food, but I don't know who.
(8)
Man
man
i
agr
no
neg
save
hab
spoelem
spoil
man.
man
People shouldn't bother anybody else. (in context: ‘You leave me alone.’)
(9)
Mifala
1pl.incl
i
agr
no
neg
wantem
want
wan
one
samting
indef
olsem
like.that
We don't want anything like that.

Cardinal (wan, tu tri, fo, faev [...]) and ordinal numerals (fas, seken, ted [...]) and adjectives precede the head noun in a complex NP (cf. (10)); PPs and relative clauses follow the head noun (cf.(11), (4b)). When used attributively numerals combine with the adjectival ending -fala. See §7 for predicative adjectives.

(10)
Jenita
Jenita
wetem
and
Sale
Sale
i
agr
gat
have
tri
three
gudfala
good.adj
pikinini.
child
Jenita and Sale have three good children.
(11)
Trifala
three.adj
gel
girl
ia
def
i
agr
stap
cont
jikim
cheek
tija
teacher
blong
of
olgeta.
3pl
Those three girls are being cheeky to their teacher.

Adjectives are invariant. Comparatives and superlatives of most adjectives are expressed with a subordinate clause or PP, see §8.

6. Verb phrase

6.1 Verbal auxiliaries

Bislama has a small number of TAM particles that mark tense, aspect, and mood. They are shown in Table 4 and exemplified in (12)–(16). Another grammatical element preceding the verb is the agreement marker i/oli (3sg/3pl) (see, e.g., (13) and (27)).

Table 4. Tense-Aspect-Mood markers

form

lexifier etymon

meaning

bae; bambae

by and by

irrealis

bin

been

anterior

finis

finish

completive

save

savvy (< Portuguese saber)

abilitive; habitual

stap

stop

imperfective; progressive; habitual

Ø

all, except progressive

(12)
I
agr
talem
tell
se,
comp
Bae
irr
yu
2sg
no
neg
save
abil
karem”.
carry
She said, “You can't have it”. (Malo, 1995, Bretian)
(13)
Brata
brother
blong
of
hem
3sg
i
agr
bin
ant
wok
work
long
at
ples
place
ia
def
long
in
Santo.
Santo
His brother had worked in the (same) place in Santo. (Malo, 1995, Dien)
(14)
Oli
agr
karem
take
wan
indf
trak
truck
blong
of
olgeta
3pl
finis.
compl
They already have a truck of their own. (Malo, 1995, Atesolo)
(15)
Yu
2sg
save
abil
karem
take
mitufala
1du
i
agr
go
go
long
to
narasaed
other.side
long
on
poen
point
ia?
def
Can you take us to that point over there? (Malo, 1995, Leikitah)
(16)
Mi
1sg
stap
prog
wok
work
smolsmol.
red.small
I was working part-time. (Santo, 1995, Elsina)

In addition, there are several other verbs which may combine directly with a main verb to express desire (wantem ‘want’), inception of an action (stat ‘start’), direction (go and kam), and politeness (traem ‘try’).

(17)
Lavinia
Lavinia
i
agr
wantem
want
droem
draw
wan
indf
hos.
horse
Lavinia wants to draw a horse.
(18)
Litu
Litu
i
agr
go
go
pem
pay
mane
money
blong
of
hem
3sg
long
at
bang.
bank
Litu went and deposited his money at the bank.

These have not been included in Table 4 as auxiliaries because (i) a second agreement marker between the two verbs is possible (i.e. i wantem i droem) and (ii) it is possible to negate the second verb only (note that (ii) requires a biclausal construction with two sets of agreement, as in (19)). With the true auxiliaries in Table 4 negation takes both the auxiliary and main verb in its scope. Indeed, traem as a politeness marker must remain outside the scope of negation. Under the scope of negation it reverts to its lexical meaning.

(19)
Lavini
Lavini
i
agr
wantem
want
i
agr
no
neg
droem
draw
wan
indf
hos.
horse
Lavinia wants not to draw a horse.
(20)
Traem
try
no
neg
purumbut
put.boot
long
on
graon
ground
ia
def
longwe.
there
Please don't walk on the ground over there.
(21)
No
neg
traem
try
purumbut
put.boot
long
on
graon
ground
ia
def
longwe.
there
Do not try and walk on the ground over there. *Please don't (try and) walk on the ground over there.

6.2 Verbal negation

The negatives no (examples (19)–(21) above) and neva (22) occur between subject-verb agreement and the auxiliary/main verb.

(22)
Hem
3sg
i
agr
stap
stay
longtaem
long.time
be
but
i
agr
neva
never
luk
look
wan
indf
tortel.
turtle
She's been here for ages but she's never seen a turtle.

In imperatives (where there is no agreement, see (20) and (21)), the negative constituent is clause initial.

6.3. Copular sentences

There is no universally-used copula verb in Bislama, but se appears to be grammaticalizing as a copula in some parts of the country (it seems to be less common in the north). Crowley (1989) suggests that this is an extension from use of se as a complementizer, reinforced and influenced by the French presentational c’est //.

     The most typical strategy for expressing copular relations is through direct predication of some property. The complement can be modified with verbal markers (tense, aspect, mood auxiliaries).

(23)
a.
Hem
3sg
i
agr
wan
indf
atlet
athlete
long
on
saed
side
blong
of
javelin.
javelin
She is a javelin thrower. (TP, 10 June 1998, p.15)
b.
Hem
3sg
i
agr
bin
ant
wan
indf
atlet
athlete
taem
when
hem
3sg
i
agr
yangfala.
young
She was an athlete when she was young.
c.
Hem
3sg
bae
fut
i
agr
wan
indf
atlet
athlete
sapos
of
hem
3sg
i
agr
stap
hab
tren
train
plante.
hard
She will be an athlete if she trains hard regularly.
(24)
Hat
hat
ia
def
tu,
too
hem
3sg
i
agr
blong
of
Tomman
Tomman
ilan.
island
This hat is also from Tomman island. (Vanuatu Koljoral Senta signage, recorded June 1998)
(25)
Olgeta
3pl
stalls
stalls
long
in
yia
year
ia
def
bae
irr
i
agr
no
neg
plante.
be.plenty
There will be few stalls this year. (VWH, 27 June 1998, p.6)

Presentational sentences with hemia ‘this; that’ subjects often do not have i at the head of the complement (26). However, this is certainly possible (example (27) is from a vox pop report that seems to be verbatim transcription), and there is a related strong focus construction as in (28) that doubles hemia with a canonical subject and agreement before the predicate. More research is needed into the relationship between and different discourse functions of (26)–(28).

(26)
Hemia
3sg.def
end
end
blong
of
programme
programme
blong
of
15th
15th
mei
May
selebresen
celebration
[...]
[...]
That was the end of the programme for the 15th May celebrations [...]. (TP, 10 June 1998, p.8)
(27)
Hemia
3sg.definite
i
agr
wan
indf
kuestian
question
we
comp
ol
pl
woman,
woman
oli
agr
wantem
want
ol
pl
ansa
answer
long
to
hem
3sg
naoia.
now.def
This is a question that women want the answer to now. (VWH, 27 June 1998, p.10)
(28)
Hemia
3sg.def
hem
3sg
i
agr
by-law
bylaw
blong
of
konsel.
council
This is a Council bylaw. () (TP, 20 June 1998, p.3)

7. Simple sentences

Basic word order in main and subordinate clauses in Bislama is SVO. All arguments may be omitted: The primary constraint on deletion for subjects is person and number of the referent (this corresponds to informativeness of subject-verb agreement, Meyerhoff 2000b). For objects, the most important constraint is the discourse salience of the referent (more recently mentioned referents are more likely to be omitted, Meyerhoff 2003a). It is possible to front arguments for focus purposes: Either a gap in the basic sentence (cf. (29)) or a resumptive pronoun (cf. em in (30)) is possible when a constituent has been fronted.

(29)
Buk
book
ia
def
mi
1sg
pem
pay
Ø
Ø
long
in
wan
indf
stoa
store
long
inf
Niusilan.
New.Zealand
I bought this book in a store in New Zealand.
(30)
Wan
one
wan
one
hedres,
headdress
i
agr
gat
have
spesel
special
nem
name
blong
of
em.
3sg
There are special names given to each headdress. (VKS signage, recorded June 1998)

Interrogatives do not normally use movement to the front (cf. (31)). A moved interrogative argument is pragmatically loaded and sounds abrupt, especially if the moved argument is a direct object. Moving the adjunct olsem wanem (as in (32)) is less inherently charged than a moved direct object, but (32) occurred in a string of queries which emphasized its challenging tone.

(31)
Yu
2sg
talem
tell
wanem?
what
What did you say?
(32)
Olsem
like
wanem
what
i
agr
nomo
no.more
gat
have
narafala
other
Ni-Vanuatu
Ni-Vanuatu
i
agr
save
abil
holem
hold
post
post
ia?
def
Why isn't there a Ni-Vanuatu person to fill that position anymore? (VWH, 27 June 1998, p.10)

Existential sentences use the verb gat ‘have’, and there is no overt expletive subject (see (30) and (32)).

     Ditransitive verbs may use either a prepositional object (33) or a double object construction (34). The PP is much more common in my spoken corpus (example (34) is from court cross-examination). Because Bislama allows arguments to be omitted in discourse, the goal of the verb is often unexpressed (35). Less frequently the direct object is more salient and this is omitted (36).

(33)
Bae
irr
mi
1sg
nomo
no.more
wantem
want
givim
give
titi
breast
long
to
hem
3sg
bakegen.
again
(I decided) I wasn't going to nurse him any longer. (Santo, 1995, Elsina)
(34)
Sapos
if
Taetas
Taetas
i
agr
no
neg
ripotem
report
long
to
polis,
police
bae
irr
yu
2sg
givim
give
hem
3sg
sam
some
moa
more
mane?
money
If Taetas hadn't reported you to the police, would you have given him some more money? (Santo, 1994, Simeon)
(35)
Mi
1sg
mas
must
soem
show
pepa
paper
ya.
def
I had to show (the shop keeper) that piece of paper. (Santo, 1995, Rinette)
(36)
Oli
agr
raetem
write
wan
indf
papa,
paper
oli
agr
givim
give
long
to
woman
woman
blong
of
pikinini
child
blong
of
hem.
3sg
They wrote a paper, and they gave it to the wife of one of his children. (Santo, 1994, Stiven)

Predicates may be intransitive, transitive or ditransitive. As noted in §5, adjectives such as gud ‘good’, red ‘red’ and laki ‘lucky, fortunate’ may be used adjectively modifying nouns, or as predicates, e.g. pepa we yu wantem i red ‘the paper you want is red’. Predicative adjectives may also be suffixed with -wan, e.g. redwan ‘red’.

8. Complex sentences and comparatives

The most common complementizer is se (< English say and French c’est, Crowley 1989). We (< English where) also introduces finite subordinate clauses (Crowley 1990: 330–338) and is the default relativizer. Olsem (‘like’ < English all the same) may be used with some verbs (Meyerhoff 2008). Nonfinite clauses are introduced with blong (< English belong).

     Comparatives and superlatives are expressed with bitim ‘beat’. Comparative constructions with bitim ‘beat’ are unattested until the latter half of the 20th century; Crowley (1990: 328) cites work by Guy (1975) where the comparison with bitim is clearly biclausal (bitim occurs with i, see examples (37) and (38)) but the grammaticalization of bitim as a preposition is occurring rapidly and it is perfectly acceptable now in its bare form (as in (39) and (40)).

(37)
Haos
house
ia
def
longwe
there
i
agr
bigwan
big
i
agr
bitim
beat
blong
of
yumi.
1pl.incl
That house over there is bigger than ours.
(38)
Natora
teak
i
agr
strong
strong
i
agr
bitim
beat
olgeta
3pl
narafala
other.adj
wud.
wood
Teak is stronger than any other wood./Teak is the strongest wood. (Guy 1975, cited in Crowley 1990: 328)
(39)
Tufala
two.adj
tim
team
ia
def
we
comp
oli
agr
fit
fit
mo
and
oli
agr
pripea
prepare
bitim
beat
everi
every
narafala
other.adj
tim.
team
Those two teams are fit and they are better prepared than every other team. (VWH, 27 June 1998, p.16)
(40)
Be
but
yu
2sg
save
abil
ranran
red.run
bitim
beat
mi?
1sg
But can you run faster than me? (Malo, 1995, Nina)

There are no cleft constructions in Bislama. Topicalization is via fronting (see §7).

9. Reduplication

Reduplication in Bislama signals a number of functions, which can be subsumed under a general notion of “augmentative” (Meyerhoff 2003b). A plural subject NP may trigger reduplication on the verb, but verb reduplication also may signal repetition of, or intensity of, the activity. Reduplication on an adjective usually signals intensification. An example of verb and adjective reduplication is katkatem smolsmol [red.cut red.small] meaning ‘chop finely; mince’, i.e. cut repeatedly, until very small. Some lexical reduplication exists, e.g. kakae ‘food’ and singsing ‘sing; a song’.

     Productive reduplication targets the first syllable of a word and reduplicates onset, nucleus, and coda as a new syllable on the left edge of the word, e.g. faerap ‘pop’ > faefaerap ‘crackle’; slo ‘slow’ > sloslo ‘very slowly, carefully’. Some words do not reduplicate the coda, or do so variably. Native speakers report that V-initial syllables (which are rare) are not good candidates for reduplication, e.g. askem ‘ask’ but #/*askaskem is not used to produce ‘ask repeatedly; interrogate’.

     It is possible to reduplicate words and clauses, so a frequent means of indicating that someone stayed a long time some place is to say Hem i stap (i) stap (i) stap, or to express lengthy or effortful travel, Hem i go (i) go (i) go (i) go. I have recorded up to six iterations of stap in a conversation. It seems the limits on how many times a lexical item can be reduplicated are rhetorical.

     Clausal reduplication (41) allows speakers another option for intensifying a predicate. The final reduplication can be elided leaving only the complementizer (42).

(41)
Papa
papa
i
agr
krae
cry
we
compl
i
agr
krae.
cry
My father cried and cried. (Malo, 1994, Janette)
(42)
Mi
1sg
mekem
make
long
to
hem
3sg
we
compl
bae
irr
i
agr
harem
feel
bae
irr
i
agr
sem
shame
we.
compl
I did something to make her feel really bad/embarrassed. (Santo, 1995, Sikal)