Editing Tok Pisin (section)

==Name==
[[File:F. Mihatlic SVD The Jacaranda Dictionary and Grammar of Melanesian Pidgin.jpg|right|thumb|upright|A 1971 reference book on Tok Pisin (referring to the language as ''Melanesian Pidgin'')]]
[[File:Tok-Pisin New-Guinea-Pidgin Pidgin-English Melanesian-Pidgin Papua-New-Guinea-Hotel-Room-Door-Sign (DSC 3096).jpg|thumb|Hotel room door signs in Papua New Guinea]]
{{lang|tpi|Tok}} originates from English ''talk'', but has a wider application, also meaning 'word, speech, language'. {{lang|tpi|Pisin}} derives from the English word ''[[pidgin]]''; the latter, in turn, may originate in the word ''business'', which is descriptive of the typical development and use of pidgins as inter-ethnic trade languages.

While Tok Pisin's name in the language is {{lang|tpi|Tok Pisin}}, it is also called "New Guinea Pidgin"{{sfn|Nupela Testamen bilong Bikpela Jisas Kraist|1969}} in English. Papua New Guinean [[English language|anglophones]] often call Tok Pisin "Pidgin" when speaking English.{{notetag|The published court reports of Papua New Guinea refer to Tok Pisin as "Pidgin": see for example ''Schubert v The State'' [1979] PNGLR 66.}} This usage of "Pidgin" differs from the term ''[[pidgin]] (language)'' as used in linguistics. ''Tok Pisin'' is not a pidgin in the latter sense, since it has become a first language for many people (rather than simply a ''[[lingua franca]]'' to facilitate communication with speakers of other languages). As such, it is considered a [[Creole language|creole]] in linguistic terminology.{{notetag|See the [http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/tokp1240 ''Glottolog'' entry for Tok Pisin] (itself evidence that the linguistic community considers it a language in its own right, and prefers to name it ''Tok Pisin''), as well as numerous references therein.}}