Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A lingua franca based on Malay and English, spoken in the southwest Pacific, especially in the Papua New Guinea area. Also called Beach-la-Mar, Bêche-de-Mer.
Wiktionary
- n. A creole spoken on the South Pacific island-nation of Vanuatu, derived from Indo-European and Malay languages.
Etymologies
- A loanword from the Bislama language, from French bêche de mer “sea cucumber”. In the mid-nineteenth century, sea cucumbers were harvested and dried at the same time that sandalwood was gathered. The name came to be associated with the kind of pidgin speech that was used by the local laborers between themselves, as well as their English-speaking overseers. (Wiktionary)
- Pidgin or native variant of Bêche-de-Mer. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I did write a 15 minute screenplay entirely in Bislama - Waet Devel: Taem Drakula I Kam Long Vanuatu (White Ghost: When Dracula Came To Vanuatu), which was a lot of fun to do but, of course, like its title character, will never see the light of day!”
“I would happily write in Bislama - the South Pacific pidgin spoken in Vanuatu - if I could publish it.”
“Languages: local languages (more than 100) 72.6%, pidgin (known as Bislama or Bichelama) 23.1%, English 1.9%, French 1.4%, other 0.3%, unspecified 0.7% (1999 Census)”
“Vanuatulocal languages (more than 100) 72.6%, pidgin (known as Bislama or Bichelama) 23.1%, English 1.9%, French 1.4%, other 0.3%, unspecified 0.7% (1999 Census)”
“Languages: English (official), French (official), pidgin (known as Bislama or Bichelama)”
“Languages: three official languages: English, French, pidgin (known as Bislama or Bichelama), plus more than 100 local languages”
“English (official), French (official), pidgin (known as Bislama or”
“Languages: local languages (more than 100) 72. 6\%, pidgin (known as Bislama or”
“Go read up on Tok Pisin, or Bislama for more on that.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘Bislama’.
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INTERP - languages
This is not a scientific list based on unified criteria, the sole aim was to collect as many language names as possible.
The list contains the names of the following artificial langua...Abkhazian, Achinese, Acoli, Adangme, Adyghe, Afar, Afrikaans, Ainu, Akan, Albanian, Amharic, Angika and 8674 more...
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