Contemporary Pijin

Solomon Islands Pijin is now spoken throughout the Solomons archipelago. It is, by far, the primary lingua franca of the island group, superseding missionary lingua francas. In view of its social history, Pijin from the start was used predominantly by adult males, most women and children simply having no access to it. It is still quite common nowadays to come across mature women in remote areas of the Solomon Islands who do not know Pijin at all. People, and women in particular, who were not incorporated into the traditional settings or contexts of Pijin usage and transmission (plantations, mission stations or schooling) had never had any need for Pijin, and/or any opportunities or incentive to learn it. The situation is being modified nowadays with increasing urbanization, widespread primary schooling, encroachment of a cash economy everywhere in the country, and growing transport links that make it possible for people to move back and forth between the villages and Honiara, the main Pijin-speaking area of the country. All these activities provide all members of the society, and not only men as had been the case before, with opportunities (and sometimes money) for travel within the island group. With increasing mobility, people of different linguistic traditions come in contact in a way and on a scale that differs drastically from traditional inter-group and/or inter-islands contacts. This has opened the way for Pijin to establish itself as the main language of the country.