View source for Bislama

{{Short description|English-based creole language of Vanuatu}}
{{about|the language|the food|sea cucumber (food)}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Bislama
| altname          = ''Bichelamar''
| nativename       = {{lang|bi|Bislama}}
| region           = [[Vanuatu]]
| speakers         = 10,000
| date             = 2011
| ref              = e18
| speakers2        = 200,000 [[Second language|L2]] speakers{{citation needed|date=November 2011}}
| familycolor      = Creole
| fam1             = [[English-based creole languages|English Creole]]
| fam2             = Pacific
| fam3             = [[Melanesian Pidgin (disambiguation)|Melanesian Pidgin]]
| script           = [[Latin script|Latin]], [[Avoiuli]] (local)
| nation           = [[Vanuatu]]
| iso1             = bi
| iso2             = bis
| iso3             = bis
| glotto           = bisl1239
| glottorefname    = Bislama
| lingua           = 52-ABB-ce
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|bi|biˈslama|}}
| imagecaption     = A sign in Bislama written in [[boustrophedon]] [[Avoiuli]] script, from the island of Pentecost. The top-left reads, {{lang|bi|sab senta blong melenisian institiut blong tijim saen. filosofi. hiumaniti mo teknoloji. lisa vilij lolovini}} (Sap Centre of the Melanesian Institute for teaching science, philosophy, humanity and technology, Lisaa village, Central Pentecost).
| states           = Vanuatu
| image            = Notice in Avoiuli script at a custom school, Pentcost Island, 2014.jpg
| ELP              = VU
}}
[[File:WIKITONGUES- Toukala speaking Bislama.webm|thumb|A Bislama speaker, recorded in [[Vanuatu]]]]

'''Bislama''' ({{IPAc-en|lang|ˈ|b|ɪ|s|l|ə|m|ɑː|}} {{respell|BISS|lə|mah}};<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bauer |first=Laurie |title=The Linguistics Student's Handbook |date=2007 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |location=Edinburgh |language=en}}</ref> {{IPA|bis|biˈslama|lang}}; also known by its earlier French name, {{lang|fr|bichelamar}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bislama |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/bis |access-date=January 2, 2014 |website=Ethnologue |language=en}}</ref> {{IPA|fr|biʃlamaʁ|}}) is an [[English-based creole language]]. It is the national language of [[Vanuatu]], and one of the three official languages of the country, the other ones being English and French. Bislama is the first language of many of the "Urban [[ni-Vanuatu]]" (citizens who live in [[Port Vila]] and [[Luganville]]) and the second language of much of the rest of the country's residents. The lyrics of "[[Yumi, Yumi, Yumi]]", the country's national anthem, are composed in Bislama.

More than 95% of Bislama words are of English origin, whilst the remainder comprises a few dozen words from French as well as some specific vocabulary inherited from various [[languages of Vanuatu]]—although these are essentially limited to flora and fauna terminology.<ref>See Charpentier (1979).</ref> While the influence of these vernacular languages is low on the vocabulary side, it is very high in the [[morphosyntax]]. As such, Bislama can be described simply as a language with an English vocabulary and an [[Oceanic languages|Oceanic]] grammar and phonology.<ref>See Camden (1979).</ref> 

Scholars highlight the role of Bislama in undermining the vitality of Vanuatu's indigenous languages.<ref>François ([[#AF-diversity|2012]]: 103 ff.); Lavender Forsyth ([[#Lavender|2025]]).</ref>

==History==
During the period of "[[blackbirding]]" in the 1870s and 1880s, hundreds of thousands of Pacific islanders (many of them from the [[New Hebrides]] – now the [[Vanuatu]] archipelago) were taken as indentured labourers, often kidnapped, and forced to work on plantations, mainly in [[Queensland, Australia]], and [[Fiji]].<ref>Emma Christopher, Cassandra Pybus and Marcus Buford Rediker (2007). ''Many Middle Passages: Forced Migration and the Making of the Modern World'', University of California Press, pp 188–190. {{ISBN|0-520-25206-3}}.</ref> With several languages being spoken in these plantations a localised [[pidgin]] was formed, combining English vocabulary with grammatical structures typical of languages in the region.<ref>For this whole section, see: Tryon & Charpentier (2004), and Crowley (1990).</ref> This early plantation pidgin is the origin not only of Bislama, but also of [[Tok Pisin]] in [[Papua New Guinea]], and [[Pijin]] of the [[Solomon Islands]]; though not of [[Torres Strait Creole]] in the north of Australia.

This creole started spreading throughout the Vanuatu archipelago at the turn of the 20th century, as former blackbirds and their descendants began to return to their native islands. Knowledge of this creole would facilitate communication not only with European traders and settlers, but also between native populations, and because Vanuatu is the most language-dense country in the world (one count puts it at [[Languages of Vanuatu|113 languages]] for a population of 225,000),<ref>See Crowley ([[#TC-situation|2000]]:50); François ([[#AF-diversity|2012]]:86).</ref> Bislama usefully serves as a [[lingua franca]] for communication between ni-Vanuatu, as well as with and between foreigners. Although it has been primarily a spoken-only language for most of its history, the first dictionary of Bislama was published in 1977.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Camden |first1=Bill |title=A descriptive dictionary, Bislama to English |url=https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/DESCRIPTIVE-DICTIONARY-Bislama-English-CAMDEN-Pastor/21712215934/bd |website=AbeBooks |publisher=Maropa Bookshop. Vila. |access-date=23 March 2024}}</ref> A new dictionary was published in 1995.<ref>See Crowley ([[#TC-dict|1995]]).</ref> This, along with its second edition in 2004, has helped to create a standardised and uniform spelling of written Bislama.

Besides Bislama, most ni-Vanuatu also know their local language, the local language of their father and/or mother, as well as their spouse, oftentimes. The country's official languages of tuition in schools and educational institutions are English and French.

===Name===
The name of Bislama (also referred to, especially in French, as ''Bichelamar'') comes via the early 19th century word ''Beach-la-Mar'' from pseudo-French ''biche de mer'' or ''bêche de mer'', [[Holothuroidea|sea cucumber]], which itself comes from an alteration of the Portuguese {{Lang|pt|bicho do mar}} "sea animal".<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=bêche-de-mer |encyclopedia=American Heritage Dictionary |url=https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=B%C3%AACHE-DE-MER |date=2000 |language=en}}</ref> In the early 1840s, sea cucumbers were also harvested and dried at the same time that [[sandalwood]] was gathered. The names ''biche-la-mar'' and ''Sandalwood English'' came to be associated with the kind of pidgin that came to be used by the local laborers between themselves, as well as their English-speaking overseers.<ref>See Crowley (1990).</ref>

[[Robert Louis Stevenson]] wrote in an account of his travels through the Pacific in 1888 and 1889, "the natives themselves have often scraped up a little English&nbsp;... or an efficient pidgin, what is called to the westward ''Beach-la-Mar''."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stevenson |first=Robert Louis |url=http://www.1stworldlibrary.org |title=In the South Seas |publisher=1st World Publishing |year=2004 |isbn=1-59540-504-6 |edition=1st |location=Fairfield, IA |pages=15}}</ref> In [[Jack London]]'s story "Yah! Yah! Yah!", one of his "[[South Sea Tales (1911)|South Sea Tales]]", there is repeated a reference to "a bastard lingo called ''bech-de-mer''", and much of the story's dialogue is conducted in it.

Today, the word ''bislama'' itself is seldom used by younger speakers of Bislama to refer to sea cucumbers, as a new re-borrowing from pseudo-French ''bêche de mer'', which has taken the form ''besdemea'', has become more popular.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Crowley |first=Terry |title=Beach-la-Mar to Bislama: The Emergence of a National Language in Vanuatu |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1990 |location=Oxford |pages=33 |chapter=1}}</ref>

==Dialectal variations==
Dialects exist, based mainly on different pronunciations in different areas which stem from the different sounds of the native languages. The future tense marker can be heard to be said as: Bambae, Mbae, Nambae, or Bae. There are also preferences for using Bislama or native words that vary from place to place, and most people insert English, French, or local language words to fill out Bislama. So in the capital city it is common to hear 'computer'; in other places one might hear 'ordinateur'.

== Pacific creole comparison ==
{| class="wikitable"
! [[English language|English]] || Bislama || [[Pijin]] || [[Tok Pisin]] || [[Torres Strait Creole]]
|--
| and || mo || an || na || ane / ne / an / a
|--
| the || __ ia / ya || __ ia || dispela __ || dha / dhemtu / dhem
|--
| this || __ ia / ya || __ ia || dispela __ || dhis __ (ia) / dhemtu __ ia / dhem __ ia
|--
| he / she / it / him / her || hem || hem || em / en || em
|--
| for || from || fo || long || po
|--
| (adjective marker) || -fala || -fala || -pela || -Ø when [[Adjective#Types of use|attributive]] (em i big man 'he's a big man')<br />-wan when [[predicative adjective|predicative]] (man i big''wan'' 'the man's big')
|--
| woman || woman || woman / mere || meri || uman / {{Not a typo|oman}} (dialect difference)
|}

==Orthography==
The Bislama Latin alphabet uses the letters ''A, B, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, T, U, V, W, Y'' and the digraphs ''AE'', ''AO'' and ''[[Velar nasal|NG]]''.

An older Latin orthography, used before 1995, had ''É'' (now written ''E''), ''AI'' and ''AU'' (now ''AE'' and ''AO''). For those vowels in hiatus, ''AÏ'' and ''AÜ'' were used (now written ''AI'' and ''AU''). [[Labialization|Labialized consonants]] (used in loanwords), now written with a tilde (''M̃'' and ''P̃'') or a following ''W'' (''MW'' and ''PW''), were then spelled with a [[Macron (diacritic)#Letter extension|macron]], following the conventions used for some vernacular Vanuatu languages: ''M̄'' was used for {{IPA|/mʷ/}} and ''P̄'' for {{IPA|/pʷ/}}.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |title=Letter Database |url=http://eki.ee/letter/chardata.cgi?lang=bi+Bislama&script=latin |website=eki.ee}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Smith |first=Rachel E. |title="The Goal of the Good House": Seasonal Work and Seeking a Good Life in Lamen and Lamen Bay, Epi, Vanuatu |date=2016 |degree=PhD |publisher=University of Manchester |url=https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/files/54584756/FULL_TEXT.PDF |language=en}}</ref>

On the island of [[Pentecost Island|Pentecost]], the [[avoiuli]] script is sometimes used for Bislama. The shapes of the letters derive from sand-drawing. It has distinct letters for ''NG'' and ''NGG'', but otherwise corresponds closely to the Latin alphabet above, though capitals are seldom used, punctuation differs, there are digits for higher numbers and [[logogram]]s for commonly traded commodities such as pig tusks.

==Grammar==
Two frequent words in Bislama are "long" and "blong", which take the place of many prepositions in English or French.

==="Long"===
*''Long'' as 'next to', 'by', 'beside' etc.
*;Stoa long haos: The store next to the house.
*''long'' as 'at' or 'to'
*;Mi bin stap long ples ia bifo: I have been to this place before.
*;Mi stap long stoa: I am at the store.
*''long'' as 'in'
*;Jea long haos: The chair in the house.

''Long'' holds many other related meanings, and is sometimes used in improvisation.

==="Blong"===
Originally from the English word "belong", ''blong'' takes the place of 'of' or the genitive case in other languages. Just like ''of'' in English, it is one of the most widely used and versatile words in the language, and can indicate possession, country of origin, defining characteristics, intention, and others.

;Buk blong mi: The book that belongs to me, my book
;Man blong Amerika: Man from America, American.
;Hemi woman blong saiens: She is a woman of science, She is a scientist.
;Man blong dring: Man of drinking i.e. a drinker

===Verbs===
Verbs in Bislama usually consist of a stem word (borrowed from English, French or indigenous languages); most [[transitive verb]]s add to this a transitive suffix.

The form of that suffix is /-em/, /-im/, or /-um/, depending on [[vowel harmony]]. If the last vowel of the verb's stem is either -u- or -i-, then that vowel will normally be copied into the transitive suffix – however, there are rare exceptions. For all other stem vowels, the transitive suffix has its default form /-em/:<ref>https://www.livelingua.com/course/peace-corps/Bislama_Handbook, p. 71</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Morphology of transitive verb endings
! English !! colspan="2" | Bislama
|-
! etymon !! stem !! verb
|-
| ''dig'' || ''dig-'' || ''dig'''i'''m''
|-
| ''clean'' || ''klin-'' || ''klin'''i'''m''
|-
| ''kiss'' || ''kis-'' || ''kis'''i'''m''
|-
| ''put'' || ''put-'' || ''put'''u'''m''
|-
| ''pull'' || ''pul-'' || ''pul'''u'''m''
|-
| ''cook'' || ''kuk-'' || ''kuk'''u'''m''
|-
| ''want'' || ''wand-'' || ''wand'''e'''m''
|-
| ''hear'' || ''har-'' || ''har'''e'''m'' 'hear, feel'
|-
| ''tell'' || ''tal-'' || ''tal'''e'''m'' 'tell, say'
|-
| ''sell'' || ''sal-'' || ''sal'''e'''m''
|-
| ''shut'' || ''sat-'' || ''sar'''e'''m''
|-
| ''catch'' || ''kas-'' || ''kas'''e'''m'' 'get, reach'
|-
| ''carry'' || ''kar-'' || ''kar'''e'''m'' 'carry, bring'
|-
| ''ready'' || ''rere'' 'ready' || ''rer'''e'''m'' 'prepare'
|-
| ''take'' || ''tek-'' || ''tek'''e'''m''
|-
| ''find'' || ''faen-'' || ''faen'''e'''m''
|-
| ''call'' || ''kol-'' || ''kol'''e'''m''
|-
| ''hold'' || ''hol-'' || ''hol'''e'''m''
|-
| ''follow'' || ''fol-'' || ''fol'''e'''m''
|-
| ''show'' || ''so-'' || ''so'''e'''m''
|-
| ''look out'' || ''lukaot-'' || ''lukaot'''e'''m'' 'search'
|-
| ''pay'' || ''pe-'' || ''p'''e'''m'' 'buy'
|}

Exceptions exist, such as ''luk'''i'''m'' ("look").

Examples of transitive verbs which exceptionally ''don't'' take this suffix include: ''kakae'' 'eat, bite'; ''trink'' 'drink'; ''save'' 'know'; ''se'' 'say'.

Verbs do not conjugate. The [[tense, aspect and mood]] of a sentence are indicated with markers such as ''stap'', ''bin'' and ''bae'' that are placed in the sentence.

;Mi '''stap''' kakae taro: I'm eating taro
;Mi '''bin''' kakae taro: I have eaten taro
;'''Bae''' mi kakae taro: I will eat taro

===Nouns===
The plural is formed by putting ''ol'' before the word. For example, ''bia'' 'beer'; ''ol bia'' = "beers". ''Ol'' comes from the English "all". When used with numbers, the singular form is used. 2 bia, 3 bia, etc.

===Pronouns===
[[File:Trilingual warning signs in Vanuatu.jpg|thumb|Pronouns on warning signs in Vanuatu]]
The [[personal pronoun]]s of Bislama closely resemble those of [[Tok Pisin]]. They feature four grammatical numbers (singular, dual, trial and plural) and also encode the [[clusivity]] distinction: 1st person non-singular pronouns (equivalent of English ''we'') are described as ''inclusive'' if they include the addressee (i.e. {you + I}, {you + I + others}), but ''exclusive'' otherwise (i.e. {I + other people}). Bislama pronouns do not [[Grammatical case|decline]].

{| class="wikitable"
|+ personal pronouns of Bislama
|-
! colspan="2" | 
! singular
! dual
! trial
! plural
|-
! rowspan="2" | 1st person
! <small>inclusive</small>
| -
| yumitu
| yumitri
| yumi
|-
! <small>exclusive</small>
| mi
| mitufala
| mitrifala
| mifala
|-
! colspan="2" | 2nd person
| yu
| yutufala
| yutrifala
| yufala
|-
! colspan="2" | 3rd person
| hem<br />em
| tufala<br />tugeta
| trifala<br />trigeta
| ol<br />olgeta
|}

The third person singular ''hem'', also written ''em'' lacks gender distinction, so it can mean either he, she or it. The [[predicate (grammar)|predicate]] marker '''i''' – a particle which is placed before the [[Verb phrase|verbal phrase]] of a sentence – is sometimes merged with the third person pronoun, giving the words '''hemi''' and '''emi''', respectively, in singular, and '''oli''' in plural.<ref>https://www.livelingua.com/course/peace-corps/Bislama_Handbook, p. 11-13, 49 and 57</ref>

===Tense/aspect/mood markers===
*'''stap''' + V : ([[Progressive aspect|progressive]]) ongoing or habitual action
*;hem i stap kukum kumala: or:
:;hemi stap kukum kumala: he/she is cooking sweet potatoes
*'''bin''' + V : [[past tense]] (with implication that the state is no longer true)
*;hem i bin sik long fiva: she was sick with fever [but is no longer sick]
*V + '''finis''' : ([[Perfective aspect|perfective]]) "already" (when placed at the end of a phrase; elsewhere it means "finish")
*;hem i kakae finis: she has already eaten
*'''bae''' + V (occasionally '''bambae'''): ([[irrealis]]) future or hypothetical actions (though, like in English, generally not used in [[conditional sentences]])
*;bae mi go long Santo: I will go to Santo
*;{{Transliteration|bi|italic=no|sipos plen i no bin fulap, bae mi go long Santo}}: If the plane hadn't been full, I would have gone to Santo
*'''no''' + V : negative, "not"
*;hem i no wantem yam: he doesn't want yam
*'''nomo''' + V: "no longer" (when placed after the predicate; elsewhere it means "only")
*;hem i nomo kakae yam: he no longer eats yam
*;hem i kakae yam nomo: he only eats yam
*'''neva''' + V : never
*;hem i neva kakae yam: he's never eaten yam
*'''jes''' + V : (<"just") an action that has recently occurred
*;{{Transliteration|bi|italic=no|mifala i jes wekap}}: we just woke up
*In a future context, ''jes'' entails a delay, rendered in English as "eventually":
*;bae mi pem: I will buy it / Let me buy it
*;bae mi jes pem, be noyet: I will buy it (eventually), but not yet
*V + '''gogo''' : continued action
*;hem i kukum kumala gogo: he keeps on cooking sweet potatoes
*'''mas''' + V : "must", be obliged to
*;hem i mas kakae: he must eat
*'''traem''' + V : "try to"; also sometimes used for politeness in requests
*;hem i stap traem katem: he's trying to cut it
*;traem soem long mi: could you show it me? (request)
*'''wantem''' + V : "want to"
*;hem i wantem go long Santo: she wants to go to Santo
*'''save''' + V : be able to, or be in the habit of doing
*;mi save rid: I can read
*;mi no save dring suga: I don't take sugar in drinks
*;fish ia i save kilim man: this fish can kill a person

Some of these markers also have lexical meanings. For example, ''save'' can mean "be able to" but it is also a verb "know".

=== Subordination ===
*'''sapos''' + Clause : if
;{{Transliteration|bi|italic=no|sapos yumitu faenem pig, bae yumitu kilim i ded}}: if we find a pig, we'll kill it

==Sample texts and media==
===The Bible===
The longest written work in Bislama is the [[Bible]] completed in 1998.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bislama |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/bis |website=Ethnologue}}</ref>

{| bgcolor="#efeeee"
|-----
| '''Luke 2:6–7:'''
|-----
| Bislama:
|-----
|
"Tufala i stap yet long Betlehem, nao i kam kasem stret taem blong Meri i bonem pikinini. Nao hem i bonem fasbon pikinini blong hem we hem i boe. Hem i kavremap gud long kaliko, nao i putum hem i slip long wan bokis we oltaim ol man ol i stap putum gras long hem, blong ol anamol ol i kakae. Tufala i mekem olsem, from we long hotel, i no gat ples blong tufala i stap."
|-----
| English:
|-----
|
While they were still in Bethlehem, the time came for Mary to give birth. Then she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger (lit. "''a certain kind of box where people used to put hay for animals to eat''"). They did so, because there was no room in the inn for them to stay.
|}

[[File:Vanuatu, Yumi Kat Talent.webm|thumb|Recruitment advert from Vanuatu Tourism Office (2022)]]

===Yumi, Yumi, Yumi===
{{Main|Yumi, Yumi, Yumi}}
{|
|- valign=top
|
'''Bislama words'''

CHORUS:<br/>
Yumi, Yumi, yumi i glad long talem se<br/>
Yumi, yumi, yumi ol man blong Vanuatu

God i givim ples ya long yumi,<br/>
Yumi glat tumas long hem,<br/>
Yumi strong mo yumi fri long hem,<br/>
Yumi brata evriwan!

CHORUS

Plante fasin blong bifo i stap,<br/>
Plante fasin blong tedei,<br/>
Be yumi i olsem wan nomo,<br/>
Hemia fasin blong yumi!

CHORUS

Yumi save plante wok i stap,<br/>
Long ol aelan blong yumi,<br/>
God i helpem yumi evriwan,<br/>
Hem i papa blong yumi.

CHORUS
|
'''English translation'''

CHORUS:<br/>
We are, we are, we are happy to proclaim<br/>
We are, we are, we are the people of Vanuatu!

God has given us this land;<br/>
We are grateful for it,<br/>
We are strong, we are free in this land;<br/>
We are all brothers!

CHORUS

We have many traditions<br/>
And also many modern ways,<br/>
But we are all one<br/>
And this is who we are.

CHORUS

We know there is much work to be done<br/>
On all our islands.<br/>
God helps all of us,<br/>
He is our Father.

CHORUS
<br/>
|}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book |last=Camden |first=William |title=Papers in Pidgin and Creole Linguistics, No. 2 |year=1979 |volume=A-57 |pages=51–117 |chapter=Parallels in structure and lexicon and syntax between New Hebrides Bislama and the South Santo language spoken at Tangoa |doi=10.15144/PL-A57.51 |doi-access=free}}
* {{Cite book |last=Charpentier |first=Jean-Michel |title=Le pidgin bislama(n) et le multilinguisme aux Nouvelles-Hébrides |publisher=Societe d'etudes linguistiques et anthropologiques de France |year=1979 |series=[[LACITO|Langues et civilisations à tradition orale]] |volume=35 |location=Paris}}
* {{Cite book |last=Crowley |first=Terry |author-link=Terry Crowley (linguist) |title=Beach-la-Mar to Bislama: The Emergence of a National Language in Vanuatu |date=1990 |publisher=Clarendon Press |series=Oxford Studies in Language Contact |location=Oxford |pages=422 |language=en |ref=TC-beach}}.
* {{Cite book |last=Crowley |first=Terry |author-link=Terry Crowley (linguist) |title=An Illustrated Bislama-English and English-Bislama Dictionary |publisher=Pacific Languages Unit and Vanuatu Extension Centre, University of the South Pacific |year=1995 |series=Oxford Studies in Language Contact |location=Port Vila |pages=478 |language=en |ref=TC-dict}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Crowley |first=Terry |author-link=Terry Crowley (linguist) |date=2000 |title=The language situation in Vanuatu |journal=Current Issues in Language Planning |language=en |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=47–132 |doi=10.1080/14664200008668005 |s2cid=144268250 |ref=TC-situation}}
* {{Cite book |last=Crowley |first=Terry |author-link=Terry Crowley (linguist) |title=Bislama Reference Grammar |date=2004 |publisher=University of Hawai'i Press |series=Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication No. 31 |location=Honolulu |language=en}}
* {{Cite journal |last=François |first=Alexandre |author-link=Alexandre François (linguist) |date=2012 |title=The dynamics of linguistic diversity: Egalitarian multilingualism and power imbalance among northern Vanuatu languages |url=https://anu.academia.edu/AlexFran%C3%A7ois/Papers/1525506/The_dynamics_of_linguistic_diversity_Egalitarian_multilingualism_and_power_imbalance_among_northern_Vanuatu_languages |journal=International Journal of the Sociology of Language |language=en |issue=214 |pages=85–110 |doi=10.1515/ijsl-2012-0022 |s2cid=145208588 |ref=AF-diversity}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Lavender Forsyth |first=Guy |date=2025 |title=Language endangerment in Vanuatu: Bislama likely does pose a threat in the world’s most language-diverse country |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-025-05866-w |journal=Humanities and Social Sciences Communications |language=en |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=1462 |doi=10.1057/s41599-025-05866-w |issn=2662-9992 |ref=Lavender|doi-access=free }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Tryon |first1=Darrell T. |author-link=Darrell Tryon |title=Pacific Pidgins and Creoles: Origins, Growth and Development |last2=Charpentier |first2=Jean-Michel |date=2004 |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |isbn=3-11-016998-3 |location=Berlin |language=en}}

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{InterWiki|code=bi}}
{{wikivoyage|Bislama phrasebook}}
* [http://bi.wikipedia.org Bislama Wikipedia]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20180310074144/http://www.bislama.org/ Bislama.org], a portal of resources about the Bislama language.
* [http://www.bislama.org/bislama-dictionary Bislama Translator & Spelling Dictionary for Microsoft Word] English – Bislama online translator and MS Word dictionary
*[https://www.dailypost.vu/ Vanuatu Daily Post] – news in English and Bislama
*[http://coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/VAN/bislama.html A bibliography of Bislama] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091112001233/http://coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/VAN/bislama.html |date=2009-11-12 }}, from an [[Australian National University]] website
*[http://vanuatu.peacecorps.gov/resources-language.php Peace Corps in Vanuatu – Bislama Language Lessons] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150113005831/http://vanuatu.peacecorps.gov/resources-language.php |date=2015-01-13 }}
*[http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Melanesia/bislama_intro.html Portions of the Book of Common Prayer in Bislama] ''Preabuk long Bislama''
*[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/content/shared/content/bislama/pdf/language-materials/34406_bis.pdf?lang=spa&clang=bis Book of Mormon in Bislama]
*[[Paradisec]] has a number of collections that include [http://catalog.paradisec.org.au/collections/search?language_id=700 recordings of Bislama language].

{{Languages of Vanuatu}}
{{Mid-pacific English-based pidgins and creoles}}

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[[Category:English-based pidgins and creoles]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Languages of Vanuatu]]
[[Category:Languages of New Caledonia]]
[[Category:Bislama words and phrases]]