View source for Norfuk language

{{Short description|Official language of Norfolk Island}}
{{For|the dialect of the English county of Norfolk|Norfolk dialect}}
{{See also|Pitkern language}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Norfolk
| nativename       = {{lang|pih-NF|Norfuk, Norf'k}}
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|en|nɔːfuk||generic=yes}}
| region           = [[Norfolk Island]] and [[Lord Howe Island]]
| speakers         = {{sigfig|1,786|1}}
| date             = 2002–2017
| ref              = e25
| speakers2        = 6 on [[Lord Howe Island]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/SSC12387|title = 2016 Census QuickStats: Lord Howe Island}}</ref>
| familycolor      = Creole
| fam1             = English–Tahitian [[Creole language|creole]]
| fam2             = [[Pitkern]]–Norfuk
| script           = [[Latin script|Latin]] ([[Norfolk/Pitcairnese alphabet]])
| nation           = {{flag|Norfolk Island}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.info.gov.nf/legislation/NumberedActs/2004/NorfolkIslandLanguage(Norf%27k)Act2004.doc |title=Archived copy |website=www.info.gov.nf |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725040011/http://www.info.gov.nf/legislation/NumberedActs/2004/NorfolkIslandLanguage(Norf%27k)Act2004.doc |archive-date=25 July 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
| map2             = Lang Status 80-VU.svg
| mapcaption2      = {{center|Norfuk is classified as Vulnerable by the [[UNESCO]] ''[[Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger]]''.}}
| iso3             = pih
| iso3comment      = Pitcairn-Norfolk
| isoexception     = dialect
| ietf             = pih-NF
| glotto           = pitc1234
| glottoname       = Pitcairn-Norfolk
| lingua           = 52-ABB-dd
}}

'''Norfuk''' ({{langx|pih|Norfuk}}) (increasingly spelt '''Norfolk''') or '''Norf'k'''<ref name="Norfolk Island Language (Norf'k) Act 2004" /> is the language spoken on [[Norfolk Island]] (in the Pacific Ocean) by the local residents. It is a blend of 18th-century English and [[Tahitian language|Tahitian]], originally introduced by [[Pitkern language|Pitkern]]-speaking settlers from the [[Pitcairn Islands]]. Along with English, it is the [[Norfolk Island#Language|co-official language]] of Norfolk Island.<ref>{{Cite news |date=21 April 2005 |work=[[The Dominion Post (Wellington)|The Dominion Post]] |page=B3}}</ref>{{fcn|date=September 2025}}<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/04/19/waust19.xml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051210230940/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/04/19/waust19.xml |url-status=dead |archive-date=2005-12-10 |title=Save our dialect, say Bounty islanders |date=2005-04-19 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |access-date=6 April 2007}}</ref>

Norfuk has always been a linguistic [[cant (language)|cant]].<ref name=Laycock>Donald Laycock (1989) 'The Status of Pitcairn-Norfolk: Creole, Dialect or Cant? In Ammon (ed.) ''Status and Function of Language and Language Varieties'', Walter de Gruyter</ref> As travel to and from Norfolk Island becomes more common, Norfuk is falling into disuse.<ref>{{Citation |last=Feizkhah |first=Elizabeth |title=Keeping Norfolk Alive |date=6 August 2001 |url=http://www.time.com/time/pacific/magazine/20010806/pb.html |work=TIME Pacific |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051013085754/http://www.time.com/time/pacific/magazine/20010806/pb.html |archive-date=13 October 2005}}</ref> However, efforts are being made in recent years to restore the language to more common usage, such as the education of children, the publication of English–Norfuk dictionaries, the use of the language in signage, and the renaming of some tourist attractions – most notably the [[rainforest]] walk "{{lang|pih-NF|A Trip Ina Stik}}" – to their Norfuk equivalents. In 2007, the [[United Nations]] added Norfuk to its list of [[endangered language]]s.<ref>{{cite news | title = UN adds Norfolk language to endangered list | publisher = ABC News | url = http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/17/2008195.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071023021051/http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/17/2008195.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = 23 October 2007 | access-date = 5 May 2013 }}</ref>

== History ==
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.<ref name="Mühlhäusler 2007">{{Cite journal |last=Mühlhäusler |first=Peter |date=2007 |title=The Pitkern-Norf'k language and education |url=http://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/eww.28.3.02muh |journal=English World-Wide |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=215–247 |doi=10.1075/eww.28.3.02muh|url-access=subscription }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Mühlhäusler 2007" /> [[Faye Bataille]] was one of the first to teach Norfolk classes in public schools, in the 1980s.

The first Norfolk dictionary was compiled in 1986 by Beryl Nobbs-Palmer.<ref name="Mühlhäusler 2007" /> It was titled ''A Dictionary of Norfolk words and usages'' and contained examples of words in the Norfuk language and how to use them.

The book ''Speak Norfuk Today'' was written by [[Alice Buffett]] and Dr [[Donald Laycock]]. It is an encyclopedia incorporating a large majority of the information about the Norfuk language and was one of the first instances in which the orthography of Norfuk was documented.<ref name="Mühlhäusler 2007" />

Norfuk became a language of Norfolk Island in 2004 by virtue of the Norfolk Island Language (Norf'k) Act 2004 passed by the island's legislative assembly.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Pidgins, Creoles and Mixed Languages: An Introduction|author=Velupillai, Viveka|isbn=9789027268846|location=Amsterdam|oclc=900333013|date=15 April 2015}}</ref><ref name="Norfolk Island Language (Norf'k) Act 2004">{{Citation |title=Norfolk Island Language (Norf'k) Act 2004 [Act No. 25 of 2004] |date=18 June 2015 |url=https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2015Q00190}}</ref>

In 2018, [[Eve Semple]] and colleagues received a grant from the Australian Research Council, in order to promote and facilitate revival.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Preserving and reviving language and culture of Norfolk Island|url=http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP0668939|access-date=2021-10-31|website=Research Data Australia|language=en}}</ref>

==Relationship to Pitkern==
{{Unreferenced section|date=July 2019}}

Norfuk is descended predominantly from the [[Pitkern language|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 [[English-based creole language|Atlantic Creole language]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Avram|first=Andrei|year=2003|title=Pitkern and Norfolk revisited|journal=[[English Today]]|volume=19|issue=1|pages=44–49|doi=10.1017/S0266078403003092|s2cid=144835575}}</ref> 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 anthropology#Socialization|linguistic socializer]]" among the first generation of children born on Pitcairn.<ref>{{cite report |last=Mühlhäusler |first=Peter |title=Expert Report on the Distinctiveness of Norfolk Islander Ethnicity, Culture and the Norf'k Language (Norfolk Island — South Pacific) |url=https://tasmaniantimes.com/wp-content/uploads/attachments/Annex_3_-_Expert_Report_on_the_Distinctiveness_of_Norfolk_Islander_Ethnicity_Culture_and_the_Norfk_Language.pdf |pages=104,109}}</ref>

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.<ref name="emsah.uq.edu.au">{{Citation |last1=Ingram |first1=John |title=Norfolk Island-Pitcairn English (Pitkern Norfolk) |url=http://emsah.uq.edu.au/linguistics/teaching/norfolk/Varieties-Norfolk-Phon-Ingram&Muhl.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090225090557/http://emsah.uq.edu.au/linguistics/teaching/norfolk/Varieties-Norfolk-Phon-Ingram%26Muhl.pdf |archive-date=25 February 2009 |last2=Mühlhäusler |first2=Peter |access-date=20 April 2020 |url-status=dead }}, 2006</ref>

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 dialect]]s are mutually intelligible, but differ significantly in vocabulary and grammar.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hogan-Brun |first1=Gabrielle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=16V-DwAAQBAJ |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Minority Languages and Communities |last2=O'Rourke |first2=Bernadette |author-link2=Bernadette O'Rourke |date=2018-12-11 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-137-54066-9 |pages=535 |language=en}}</ref>

The Norfolk language uses the [[subject–verb–object]] (SVO) basic word order.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Daval-Markussen |first=Aymeric |date=2015 |title=Book Review: 2013. The Atlas of Pidgin Creole Language Structures, edited by Michaelis Susanne Maria, Philippe Maurer, Martin Haspelmath and Magnus Huber |journal=[[Journal of Language Contact]] |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=430–434 |doi=10.1163/19552629-00802008}}</ref>

== Phonology ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+Vowels<ref>{{Cite book|title=The language of Norfolk Island|last=Harrison|first=Shirley|year=1972|pages=18}}</ref>
! colspan="2" |One target sounds
! rowspan="2" |Two target sounds
|-
!group 1
!group 2
|-
|i
|e
|ʌʊ
|-
|ɪ
|o
|ɑɪ
|-
|ɛ
|
|ɔɪ
|-
|æ
|
|
|-
|ɑ
|
|
|-
|ɒ
|
|
|-
|ɔ
|
|
|-
|ʊ
|
|
|-
|u
|
|
|-
|ɜ
|
|
|-
|ʌ
|
|
|}

==Orthography==
{{Main|Norfolk/Pitcairnese alphabet}}

The language is largely a spoken rather than written language,<ref>Buffett, Alice, ''An Encyclopædia of the Norfolk Island Language'', 1999</ref> and there is a lack of standardisation.<ref name="emsah.uq.edu.au" /> However, a number of attempts have been made at developing an [[orthography]] for the language. Early attempts either attempted to enforce English spelling onto the Norfuk words,<ref>Buffett, Alice, ''An Encyclopædia of the Norfolk Island Language'', 1999, p. xvi</ref> or used [[Diacritic|diacritical marks]] to represent sounds distinct to the language.

[[Alice Buffett]], a Norfolk Island [[Norfolk Island Legislative Assembly|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.<ref>Buffett, David E., ''An Encyclopædia of the Norfolk Island Language'', 1999, p. xii</ref>

==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 [[neologism|new words]] in Norfuk rather than simply adopting English words for new technological advances. For example, Norfuk recently adopted the word {{lang|pih-NF|kompyuuta}}, 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 language|Faroese]] and [[Icelandic language|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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.norfolkonlinenews.com/NON-local-stories.html |title=Norfolk Online News |website=www.norfolkonlinenews.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217075758/http://www.norfolkonlinenews.com/NON-local-stories.html |archive-date=2013-12-17}} </ref>

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 of Norfolk.<ref name="Nash & Mühlhäusler 2014">{{Cite journal|last1=Nash|first1=Joshua|last2=Mühlhäusler|first2=Peter|date=2014|title=Linking language and the environment: the case of Norf'k and Norfolk Island|journal=[[Language Sciences]]|language=en|volume=41|pages=26–33|doi=10.1016/j.langsci.2013.08.004}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Nash & Mühlhäusler 2014" /> One such instance is the naming of the fish {{lang|pih-NF|Sandford}} which received its name by a man named Sandford Warren after receiving the fish as his share.<ref name="Nash & Mühlhäusler 2014" /> Another example is the local Norfuk word for the sacred kingfisher, which is called by locals on Norfolk Island {{lang|pih-NF|Nuffka}}, deriving from the Pitcairn word for Norfolker.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sacred kingfisher {{!}} Norfolk Island National Park {{!}} Parks Australia |url=https://norfolkislandnationalpark.gov.au/discover/nature/wildlife/sacred-kingfisher/ |access-date=2025-11-09 |website=norfolkislandnationalpark.gov.au |language=en}}</ref>

==Personal pronouns==
{| class="wikitable"
|+Norfuk pronouns<ref name=Laycock/>
!
!Subject||Object||Possessive||Predicate
|-
!{{gcl|1SG}}
|{{lang|pih|ai}}||{{lang|pih|mii}}||{{lang|pih|mais}}||{{lang|pih|main}}
|-
!{{gcl|2SG}}
|{{lang|pih|yu}}||{{lang|pih|yuu}}||{{lang|pih|yus}}||{{lang|pih|yoen}}
|-
!{{gcl|3SG}}.{{gcl|MASC}}
|{{lang|pih|hi}}||{{lang|pih|hem}}||colspan=2|{{lang|pih|his}}
|-
!{{gcl|3SG}}.{{gcl|FEM}}
|{{lang|pih|shi}}||colspan=2|{{lang|pih|her}}||{{lang|pih|hers}}
|-
!{{gcl|1DU}}.{{gcl|EXCL|glossing=wikilink}}.{{gcl|MASC}}
|colspan=2|{{lang|pih|miienhem}}||rowspan=2|{{lang|pih|auwas}}||{{lang|pih|miienhis}}
|-
!{{gcl|1DU}}.{{gcl|EXCL|glossing=wikilink}}.{{gcl|FEM}}
|colspan=2|{{lang|pih|miienher}}||{{lang|pih|miienhers}}
|-
!{{gcl|1DU}}.{{gcl|INCL|glossing=wikilink}}
|colspan=2|{{lang|pih|himii}}||colspan=2|{{lang|pih|himiis}}
|-
!{{gcl|2DU}}
|colspan=2|{{lang|pih|yutuu}}||colspan=2|{{lang|pih|yutuus}}
|-
!{{gcl|3DU}}
|colspan=2|{{lang|pih|demtuu}}||colspan=2|{{lang|pih|demtuus}}
|-
!{{gcl|1PL}}
|{{lang|pih|wi}}||{{lang|pih|aklan}}||colspan=2|{{lang|pih|auwas}}
|-
!{{gcl|2PL}}
|colspan=2|{{lang|pih|yorlyi}}||colspan=2|{{lang|pih|yorlyis}}
|-
!{{gcl|3PL}}
|colspan=2|{{lang|pih|dem}}||colspan=2|{{lang|pih|dems}}
|}

There is also {{lang|pih-NF|et}} for 'it' in its object form.

== See also ==
* [[Languages of Norfolk Island]]
* [[Pitkern language]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111022045255/http://www.norfolkonlinenews.com/Speak-Norfolk.html Learn Norfuk - Norfolk Island News] ({{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191016131314/https://www.norfolkonlinenews.com/Speak-Norfolk.html|date=2019-10-16}})
* {{Wikivoyage-inline|Norfuk-Pitkern phrasebook}}

{{Languages of Australia|state=collapsed}}
{{English-based creoles}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norfuk Language}}
[[Category:Norfuk language| ]]
[[Category:Languages of Oceania]]
[[Category:Endangered languages of Australia]]
[[Category:English-based pidgins and creoles]]
[[Category:Culture of Norfolk Island]]
[[Category:Society of Norfolk Island]]
[[Category:Cant languages]]
[[Category:Vulnerable languages]]