Norfuk language

In the 1970s, the Norfolk community and specialists from mainland Australia noted that the Norfuk language was falling into decline, prompting discussions about how to implement Norfolk into the school system. At this point in time, Norfuk did not have a standardized writing system, as it was mostly an oral language. The Society of the Descendants of Pitcairn Islanders, founded in 1977, was a driving force behind the campaign to include Norfuk language as a teachable subject in schools. In 2018, Eve Semple and colleagues received a grant from the Australian Research Council, in order to promote and facilitate revival. ==Relationship to Pitkern==

Norfuk is descended predominantly from the Pitkern (Pitcairnese or Pi'kern) spoken by settlers from the Pitcairn Islands. The relative ease of travel from English-speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand to Norfolk Island, particularly when compared with that of travel to the Pitcairn Islands, has meant that Norfuk has been exposed to much greater contact with English relative to Pitkern. The difficulties in accessing the Pitcairn population have meant that a serious comparison of the two languages for mutual intelligibility has proven difficult. ==Classification==

Norfuk has been classified as an Atlantic Creole language, despite the island's location in the Pacific Ocean, because of the heavy influence of Ned Young, a Saint Kitts Creole–speaker, and his role as a "linguistic socializer" among the first generation of children born on Pitcairn. The language is closely related to Pitkern but has no other close relatives other than its parent tongues of English and Tahitian. It is generally considered that English has had more of an influence upon the language than Tahitian, with words of Tahitian extraction being confined largely to taboo subjects, negative characterisations, and adjectives indicating that something is undesirable. Many expressions which are not commonly used in contemporary English carry on in Pitkern. These expressions include words from British maritime culture in the age of sailing ships. The influence of Seventh-day Adventist missionaries and the King James Version of the Bible are also notable. In the mid-19th century, the people of Pitcairn resettled on Norfolk Island; later, some moved back. Most speakers of Pitkern today are the descendants of those who stayed. Pitkern and Norfuk dialects are mutually intelligible, but differ significantly in vocabulary and grammar. The Norfolk language uses the subject–verb–object (SVO) basic word order. == Phonology ==

The language is largely a spoken rather than written language, and there is a lack of standardisation. or used diacritical marks to represent sounds distinct to the language. Alice Buffett, a Norfolk Island parliamentarian and Australian-trained linguist, developed a codified grammar and orthography for the language in the 1980s, assisted by Dr Donald Laycock, an Australian National University academic. Their book, Speak Norfuk Today, was published in 1988. This orthography has won the endorsement of the Norfolk Island government, and its use is becoming prevalent. ==Vocabulary==

The language itself does not have words to express some concepts, particularly those having to do with science and technology. Some Islanders believe that the only solution is to create a committee charged with creating new words in Norfuk rather than simply adopting English words for new technological advances. For example, Norfuk recently adopted the word , a Norfuk-ised version of computer. Processes similar to this exist in relation to other languages around the world, such as the Māori language in New Zealand and the Faroese and Icelandic languages. Some languages already have official bodies, such as New Zealand's Māori Language Commission or France's Académie française, for creating new words. Norfuk vocabulary has been heavily influenced by the history of Norfolk Island. Many words were created for specific animals or plants on the island and the way in which these things are named is unique to the island. For example, many fish that are indigenous to the island were named either by the people who caught them or by whoever received them after dividing the catch. ==Personal pronouns==

There is also for 'it' in its object form. == See also ==