German-based creole languages

Unserdeutsch ('Our German'), or Rabaul Creole German, is a German-based creole language that originated in Papua New Guinea as a lingua franca. The substrate language is assumed to be Tok Pisin, while the majority of the lexicon is from German.

Background

German was the language of instruction in Catholic mission schools, which is where the language originated, and children residing in a German-run orphanage later used the language regularly outside of their classrooms. The language developed into a first language for some when these children had families of their own. Oral stories tell a version that Unserdeutsch originated by children sharing stories where they used German vocabulary with Tok Pisin grammar, this change in language is referred to as relexification.

The majority of Unserdeutsch speakers and their families migrated to Australia after Papua New Guinea's independence in 1975. During fieldwork conducted by researchers between 2014 and 2017, there were about 100 speakers found in Australia and around 10 speakers found in Papua New Guinea. The language is no longer learned as a first language.

Most speakers of Unserdeutsch are bilingual; speaking either Standard German, English, Tok Pisin or Kuanua. Most surviving speakers are middle-aged or older, although younger members of the community may comprehend the language. Unserdeutsch is likely a descendant of a pidginised form of Standard German which originated in the Gazelle Peninsula of New Britain during German colonial times among the Catholic mixed-race ('' Vunapope'') community. With increased mobility and intermarriage, it has been disappearing in the last few decades.

Unserdeutsch presumably influenced the development of its neighbour, Tok Pisin. Unlike Namibian Black German in Namibia, it is a creole; indeed, it is the only creole that developed from colonial German.

Further, Unserdeutsch is only composed of three characteristics: movement rules, questions and question words, according to Bickerton and his bioprogram hypothesis.

'Everybody get out, shove the boat!'

Phonology

Consonants

The below table shows Unserdeutsch's consonantal phonemes:

Vowels

The below table shows Unserdeutsch's vowel phonemes:

Grammar

Unserdeutsch is typical of creole languages in that it reflects the lexicon of one language overlaid upon a substrate grammar – in this case German and Tok Pisin, respectively. Grammatically, Unserdeutsch bears many similarities to L2 varieties of German, suggesting incomplete language acquisition on the part of students in the German-speaking colony.Maitz and Volker 2017, pp.377. Grammatically, Unserdeutsch morphology adheres to "average" creole characteristics, but because Unserdeutsch was never formally standardized, being used only informally as an in-group register, there is an unusually high degree of grammatical variation among speakers of Unserdeutsch, both between familial groups and individual speakers.

More recently, Australian English has also influenced the language in several ways. Certain syntactic constructions appear to have been borrowed directly from English, including an English-like passive voice construction utilizing a copula.Volker 1991, pp.144. Both of these features are generally rare in creole languages, which indicates an early, pervasive English influence that might have included conscious modeling of English sentence structure.

Sentence structure

Unserdeutsch word order is rigidly SVO and lacks the V2 constituent order of subordinate clauses found in Standard German.Maitz et al 2019, pp.11. This tendency extends even to imperative sentences and yes/no questions, which demonstrates a strong substrate influence from Tok Pisin.

Furthermore, even WH-fronting is optional in Unserdeutsch, and these types of interrogatives often come at the end of a sentence, as in Tok Pisin, rather than at the beginning as in Standard German or English. However, some speakers prefer to use a German-modeled sentence pattern in which the interrogative is in head position.

::
::Where would you go?

::
::Why do you have to die?Lindenfelser and Maitz 2017, pp.121.

The use of either construction appears variable among speakers of Unserdeutsch.

Nouns

Unserdeutsch nouns are derived almost exclusively from the German lexicon, but noun morphology is much less synthetic than Standard German. Unserdeutsch nouns do not change to indicate grammatical gender or case, nor is there overt plural marking.

Number

Rather than taking specific singular and plural forms, as in Standard German, Unserdeutsch nouns are pluralized almost exclusively by the pronominal marker ''alle'', unless plurality is already indicated by a numeral or pronoun, in which case it is omitted entirely.Volker 1982, pp.31. Thus, most nouns in Unserdeutsch are pluralized as in the following example:

::
::He drew the blueprints for the construction of the houses.

There are few frequently used nouns which retain Standard German plural forms and are thus double-marked for plural. These irregular forms are retained perhaps owing to frequency of use.

Articles

Like German but unlike its substrate language, Tok Pisin, Unserdeutsch uses definite and indefinite articles. However, unlike German, these articles are not inflected for gender or case, and in fact the Standard German articles are merged into a single article ;Maitz et al 2019, pp.17. this is possibly due to influence from English. Articles are normally only used with singular nouns, with the generalized plural marker functioning as a definite plural article.Volker 1989, pp.158. The full Unserdeutsch article set is as follows:
::

Speakers of Unserdeutsch often omit articles altogether in speech.Volker 1982, pp.37.

Verbs

Nearly all Unserdeutsch verbs are lexically derived from Standard German, but the Unserdeutsch inflectional system exhibits strong influence from English and Tok Pisin, and is considerably more isolating than Standard German.Volker 1989, pp.160. Many of the distinguishing characteristics of Standard German verbs, such as separable prefixes, second- and third-person stem change and the strong/weak distinction, are not present in Unserdeutsch.

Morphology

Verbs are generally not inflected according to person or number.Volker 1982, pp.36. Thus, the present tense form of most Unserdeutsch verbs is identical to the Standard German infinitive, which is not conjugated. A small number of verbs take an infinitive form that is instead modeled after the German third-person singular form (, 'go') or verb stem (, 'stay'), and some transitive verbs of English or Tok Pisin origin take the Tok Pisin suffix - (, 'to adopt'). The following example illustrates verb morphology compared to Standard German:

::()
::The queen begins.

Tense

There is no overt preterite in Unserdeutsch, but a generalized past tense can be indicated through the use of the uninflected verb ('have') alongside a highly regularized German participle form, which is constructed by the addition of the prefix to the infinitive. Even verbs borrowed from English or Tok Pisin are prefixed in this way. Thus:

::
::We got married, all right, (then) we went away…Maitz et al 2019, pp.12.

There are few high frequency verbs that exhibit past tense forms closer to their Standard German counterparts, although these forms are lexicalized and non-productive.

There is also a form of weakly grammaticalized future tense marked by the auxiliary ('will,' from German ), which is used with the infinitiveMaitz et al 2019, pp.13. in the following way:

::
::You will see Freddy tomorrow.

Overall, though, the marking of tense is optional, and many speakers of Unserdeutsch do not distinguish between tense-specific forms.

Copula

Unusually for a creole language, Unserdeutsch has a copula which is, by contrast to the rest of the verb system, conjugated in present tense.Maitz et al 2019, pp.20. The copular forms are very similar to their Standard German counterparts. In past tense, the copula is simply ; it is not conjugated at all. Thus:

::

::

Some speakers preferentially use an uninflected copula, , as in:

::
::Mama, do you hear me, I am speaking German!

Notably, whether inflected or not, the copula is frequently deleted in spoken Unserdeutsch.

Aspect, mood and voice

The Unserdeutsch aspect system is fairly complex. Typical of a creole language, most of these constructions are formed by the addition of preverbal markers.

Progressive or habitual aspect is expressed using the so-called construction, formed using the particle and the infinitive verb.

::
::She is laughing!

Habitual past action can be marked using the auxiliary (or sometimes ) along with an infinitive verb, a construction that functions similarly to English past tense would phrases. The auxiliary can also express conditional aspect, although this usage is rare.

::
::Now I would not live in New Guinea.

There is no true imperative in Unserdeutsch.Lindenfelser and Maitz 2017, pp.113. Command statements are formed identically to declarative clauses, and unlike English or German (but similar to Tok Pisin) these constructions retain SVO word order.

::
::Don’t think I wasn’t afraid.

It is possible in Unserdeutsch to form directional serial verbs using the so-called construction. This compound verb construction uses the verbs and , which are reanalyzed as directional markers.

::
::And then the bishop came there.

Interestingly, it is also possible to form an English-like passive voice construction using the past tense copula , the past participle, and the preposition .

::
::The chicken was stolen by the thieves.

This passive construction is very rare, and is a clear example of secondary adstrate influence from English.

Negation

Verb phrases are negated by the particle ('not,' from German ''nicht''), which is usually placed at the beginning of the phrase. In a few idiomatic expressions, the negator is post-verbal, more closely mirroring German negation syntax.

::
:: I don’t eat red meat.

Pronouns

Unserdeutsch uses a hybrid system of personal pronouns, demonstrating heavy influence from both the substrate and lexifier languages.Maitz et al 2019, pp.14.
::

Two pronouns, first-person plural and third-person singular masculine , have distinct object forms ( and , respectively), reflecting Standard German pronominal case marking.Maitz et al 2019, pp.15. It has been suggested by Volker (1982) that, when used in subject position, the first-person plural is exclusive, although this is disputed. Volker (1982) also identifies an object form of first-person singular, , which is not attested elsewhere.Volker 1982, pp.33.

Usage

Use of the second-person plural is rare, and is sometimes substituted. The third-person pronouns mark biological sex only, and there is no equivalent to the German or English neuter forms. There are no formal pronouns in Unserdeutsch, perhaps reflecting non-European cultural conceptions of friendship and acquaintance in the South Pacific. The second-person singular can be used in place of the Standard German impersonal pronoun , mirroring English usage. Reflexive and reciprocal pronouns are not used in Unserdeutsch; rarely, these are formed by combining the pronoun with ('self') or direct borrowing of the English "each other."Maitz et al 2019, pp.16. In some cases, personal pronouns can be omitted entirely.

Possessive pronouns

The Unserdeutsch possessive pronouns, while outwardly similar to their Standard German counterparts, do not take case, gender or number endings.
::

There is no first-person (outside of the name ) or third-person plural possessive pronoun; in order to express these forms of possession, speakers generally use a prepositional construction with .Volker 1982, pp.34.

Adjectives

With very few exceptions, Unserdeutsch adjectives are lexically identical to their German counterparts. As with other parts of speech, these adjectives are considerably more analytical than those of Standard German. Adjectives precede the referent, and show no agreement for case or gender. There is an attributive marker reanalyzed from the Standard German adjective endings into a uniform and invariant -, which is suffixed to an adjective that precedes a verb. Thus:

::
::I am a big girl.

A handful of high frequency adjectives, such as , retain their Standard German suppletive forms (such as and ).Lindenfelser and Maitz 2017, pp.118.

Comparison

The comparative forms of most Unserdeutsch adjectives are marked analytically using the particle ('more'). The superlative is formed using the suffix -, but without the vowel changes that characterize this process in Standard German.Volker 1989, pp.159. Thus, the comparative and superlative constructions are formed as follows:

::
::Maria is smaller than Des.

::
::This is the biggest.

A few high frequency adjectives retain their German synthetic comparative and superlative forms.

::, ,
::old, older, oldest

Possession

Aside from possessive pronouns, Unserdeutsch has three constructions that mark possession, each modeled after forms found in one of the dominant languages of the area, Tok Pisin, German and English.

The first of these forms uses a preposition, , to express possession, similar to the Tok Pisin construction.

::
::Tom’s houseVolker 1989, pp.156.

The second form simply juxtaposes the possessor immediately before the item possessed, as is found is many dialects of German.

::
::This car’s tire is flat.

The last form is modeled after English, wherein the possessor takes an overt - genitive suffix.

::
::Papa’s washing

This English-modeled form is less common than the other two.

References

Further reading

* Peter Mühlhäusler: ''Tracing the roots of pidgin German.'' In: ''Language and Communication'', 4/(1)/1984, S. 27–57.
* Craig A. Volker: ''Rabaul Creole German Syntax.'' In: Working Papers in Linguistics, University of Hawaii 21/1989, S. 153–189
online

* Craig A. Volker: ''An Introduction to Rabaul Creole German (Unserdeutsch).'' unpublished Master thesis (1982), University of Queensland.
online
)
* Craig A. Volker: ''The birth and decline of Rabaul Creole German, Language and Linguistics in Melanesia.'' In: John Lynch (ed.): ''Oceanic studies : proceedings of the first international conference on oceanic linguistics'' Australian Nat. Univ., Canberra 1996,
online

External links

{{German language varieties outside Europe

German-based pidgins and creoles
German diaspora in Oceania
Languages of East New Britain Province
Endangered languages of Oceania
Endangered pidgins and creoles