Lexicography’s entanglement with colonialism: The history of Tok Pisin lexicography as colonial history

By September 7, 2022,
Page 87-98
Author Stefan Engelberg
Title Lexicography’s entanglement with colonialism: The history of Tok Pisin lexicography as colonial history
Abstract Tok Pisin is a pidgin/creole language spoken since the late 19th century in most of the area that nowadays constitutes Papua New Guinea where it emerged under German colonial rule. Unusual for a pidgin/creole, Tok Pisin is characterized by a extensive lexicographic history. The Tok Pisin Dictionary Collection at the Leibniz Institute for the German Language, described in this article, includes about fifty dictionaries. The collection forms the basis for the sketch of the history of Tok Pisin lexicography as part of colonial history presented here. The basic thesis is that in the history of Tok Pisin, lexicographic strat­ egies, dictionary structures, and publication patterns reflect the interest (and disinterest) of various groups of colonial actors. Among these colonial actors, European scientists, Catholic missionaries, and the Aus­ tralian and US militaries played important roles.
Session Talk
Keywords Pidgin, Tok Pisin, colonialism, history of lexicography, lexicography and war, missionary linguistics, colonial linguistics
BibTex 
@inproceedings{euralex_mannheim_lexikographys_2022,
address = {Mannheim},
title = {Lexicography's {Entanglement} with {Colonialism}: {The} {History} of {Tok} {Pisin} {Lexicography} as {Colonial} {History}},
isbn = {978-3-937241-87-6},
shorttitle = {Euralex (2022)},
url = {},
language = {eng},
booktitle = {Dictionaries and {Society}.  {Proceedings} of the {XX} {EURALEX} {International} {Congress}},
publisher = {IDS-Verlag},
author = {Engelberg, Stefan},
editor = {Klosa-Kückelhaus, Annette and Engelberg, Stefan and Möhrs, Christine and Storjohann, Petra},
year = {2022},
pages = {87--98},
}
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