Lexical Choice and Syntactic Structure of Solomon Islands Pijin

Solomon Islands is not an English-speaking country but a Pijin-speaking one. The Pijin spoken in this country belongs to Melanesia Pijin circle within which there are the other Pijins spoken in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu. By means of literature reading and qualitative study, Solomon Islands Pijin (SIP) turns out to be from the colonial historical culture, cross-linguistic contact environment, necessary demand for temporary communication and cognitive economy principle. Based on British English, SIP demonstrates a common effort of a smooth communicative demand and diverse dialects. Generally, lexical choice and syntactic structure conform to the basic rules of British English to be more concise, fragmented and straightforward, which is easy to memorize, understand and use. Specifically, the lexicon is primarily made certain transformation on the basis of the phonetics, morphology, and semantics of English lexicon, together with suffixation and special function words. The syntax is mostly based on the local dialects in the aspects of the word order, double subject, specific degree modifier, infinitive structure, “moa” and “nomoa”, and replacement of the original modal verbs. With the development of SIP, the different written forms are employed to convey the message more concisely and effectively. SIP is a lingua franca rooted in local social and historical culture that Solomon Islanders live by being a symbol of language identity for Solomon Islands.