Sotkat pijin 4 txt

OK stori flw km na!

 

bra u lo we?

While English is the official language of the Solomon Islands, Pijin is clearly the 'unofficial' national language. It is the common language of  the Solomons, spoken and understood by almost everyone in the country. It is the language of gossip, jokes, the market, the bus stop, the bar.  

Until recently Pijin has almost entirely been a spoken language. Sometimes home made signs and advertising billboards written for the public are in Pijin e.g  "No torowe rabis lo hia" (don't litter here) or "No kaon" (no loans/credit), but national newspapers, official paperwork, road signs, and public notices are all usually written in English.  The lack of 'official' status has allowed Pijin to evolve free from the constraints and rules of perceived 'correct' use (including spelling!) and allowed it to develop into a vibrant, expressive and rapidly changing spoken language. 

Mobile phones are hugely popular in the Solomon Islands, it was estimated in 2014 that 93% of households owned at least one mobile phone (up from 49% in 2007). Mobile phones are revolutionising many things in the Solomons like banking, communication, elections and the spread of information into remote areas. Mobile phones have even been blamed for the rise of  '02-ism' (02 is Pijin slang for the sneaky extra girlfriend/boyfriend 'on the side', especially dual sim phones - sim 1 for 'misus' and sim 2 for '02' so the story goes).

Using social media forums such as Facebook is popular but sending SMS texts is the most popular, mainly because text messages are cheaper than making calls.  This popularity has seen an interesting evolution in the Pijin language because perhaps for the first time Pijin is being widely used by speakers as a genuine written language.  It could even be argued that SMS and internet Pijin is the first "real" version of written pijin!

So, just like the abbreviated language that has developed around English SMS and chat forums such as omg, lol, wtf, brb, Solomon pijin has and is developing its own abbreviations or "sotkats" (short cuts). For example the word "nomoa" (originally from the English 'no more' but meaning 'no', 'just', 'only', or 'thats all' in Pijin) is simply written as 'nma' , or "olsem" (originally from the English 'all the same' but meaning, 'similar', 'like this/ that' in Pijin), is written as "osm".  The interesting result is that many SMS and chat messages in written pijin are almost entirely unrecognisable from their English origins but still clear to Pijin speakers.

An example of a Pijin sentence using sotkats "hm bara ngd spos ota beliga ba spoelm ples dstm"  is not recognisable from the Engilsh translation "it'd be really bad if the ruffians ruined the place this time"  but the un-abbreviated 'correct' Pijin#  "hem barava nogud sapos olgeta beliga bae spoelem ples distaem" is maybe a little more recognisable?

Anyway, without the constraints of any official correct spelling or pronunciation it is interesting to see how the internet and mobile phones are both bringing Pijin closer to English and taking it away in its own special way fitim fo Solomons.

I have tried to compile below a rough 'dictionary' of common pijin SMS / chat sotkats.  If you're trying to learn Pijin this might help you understand Pijin used in SMS and chat forums, if you already know Pijin the meanings of these abbreviations are obvious, and if you don't know any Pijin you'll see how far Pijin really is from the maligned broken English... and maybe what a cool, living, growing and free language it really is.

Hm nma stori fns naya.

Enjoy

# In practice there is no 'correct' pijin, however a number of dictionaries and guides have been published in the past to encourage standardised use and spelling.

chkm gf fstm

A brief dictionary of Solomon Pijin sotkats SMS/ net chat slang words and abbreviations*

*of course there are many, many other words used in messages, including whole pijin and English words and slang if you have suggestions or corrections I'd love to hear them.

SMS Pijin sotkat	Pijin	English
10xs, tenx	tangiu	thanks
2de	tude	today
2fa	tufala	two
2geda	tugeda, tugeta	together, with
2ms, 2mas, 2masi, 2massss!	tumas	very, too much, excessive, stop it..
4gud	fogud	really, truly, very
4rm	from	from
aftrm	aftarem	follow, pursue
atin, atng	ating	I think
b4	bifoa	before
ba	ba	(question /exclamation marker)
ba	bae	will/ future marker
bara	barava	really, truly
bcos, kos, cos	bekos	because
beligm bra	beligam barata, barada	steal, act like a thief brother, as in 'bro'
bt	bat	but
dasta y	dastawe	that’s why, therefore
dn	den	then
dskyn, dskaen	diskaen	this sort of…
dstm, dstym	distaem	now, presently
eni1	eniwan	anyone
findm	faendim	find
flw	flo	flowing conversation
fns, fnsh, (o fns!)	finis	finish , over, end, stop, (enough!, stop it!).
folm	folom, falom	follow, after
fstm, fstme, fstym	fastaem	before, before hand
gd	gud	good
gd1	gud wan	a good thing action or person
hm	hem	he, she, it,
holm	holem	hold, have, carry
hw	hao	how?
jks	jokes	joking
joinm	joenem	join, go along with
km, cm	kam	come, send/bring/take to me
knmn, cnmn	kon man	con man, scammer, fraudster
kosm	kosem	to cause
kpm	kipim	keep
ksm, ksem	kasem	reach,arrive, visit, until
kyn	kaen	kind,  sort
kyn typ	kaen taep	sort of person/behavior
lelbt, lbt	lelebet	a little
lolm		lol-ing, laughing/joking
lyk	laek	like, want
lykm	laekem	like, want
lyr	laeia	liar, fake, not real
mahn	man	ohhh man!
mdl	midol	middle, in between
mita, mitala	mi tufala	the two of us
mkm	mekim	do, cause, make
mn, ia mn, mahn	man	man (exclamation as in 'yeah man')
mnm	minim	mean, understand
mssm, missm	missim	miss
naba	nau ba	now
nafu	naf	enough,
naya	nao ia	(emphasis/ exclamation)
nd	nid	need
ndm	nidim	need
ngd	nogud	bad, it would be bad if…
nma, nmoa	nomoa	no, just, only
no9, nrh	namba naen	National Referral Hospital
nw	nau	now
ny1	eniwan	anyone
nyt	naet	night
o ma ae!		(exclamation)
osm wnm	olsem wanem	like what? how?
osm, osem	olsem	like this/that
ot, ota, keta	olgeta	they, them, all
pipl	pipol	people
putm	putim	put
sa, sve, sae	save	know, understand, usually do
samfa	samfala	some one, some people, some things
SB	Solbrew	Solbrew SB (beer)
se	sei	say
shwm	soem	show
slen	selen	money
slp	slip	sleep
slva	seleva	him/herself, only, alone
sm1	samwan	some one
sosom	sosoem	show
sotm	sotem	sort out
statm	statim	begin, start
stdy, stedi	stedi	take it easy, relax, chill
stilm	stilim	steal
strt	stret	correct, true
sty	stei	stay, live at
taf 1		tough one
talm	talem	tell, told
tkm, tkem	tekem	take, carry, bring
tme	taem	time
tting, titing	ting ting	think
ufal	iu fala	you
umi	iu mi	us
unm	iu an mi	you and I
utal, utala	iu tufala	you two
wdf!		wtf!
wht	wat	what
wnt	wande	want
wtm	wetim	with
yap	ies	yup
yh		yeah
yt	iet	still, ongoing