Details

Latitude

-5.3715

Longitude

144.0245

Start Date

1955-12-31

End Date

1955-12-31

Dr. Andras Balint was a linguist based at the University of Papua New Guinea from 1965-1973, with an ongoing interest in ‘the emerging New Guinean dialect of English’, or Tok Pisin. He promoted the use of Tok Pisin in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea and amassed an extensive collection of Tok Pisin publications, mainly published by the Territory of Papua and New Guinea government and various missionary presses. Tok Pisin publications on agriculture, health, education and literacy, government, religious texts, children’s books, grammars and phrase books, etc. Also some publications in local indigenous languages (Tok Ples) such as Fore and Atzera, some English publications concerning Tok Pisin, and one short typescript manuscript in Tok Pisin on an account of a first time visit to Port Moresby. The Balint collection is divided under the following headings: Agriculture, Bible stories, Religious tracts etc., General, Health, Literacy/Primers/Readers/Grammars and Tok Pisin pubilcations. A summary of the content of each of the collections is below. Agriculture This collection ranges from the late 1960s to early 1970s. It includes various guides and public awareness publications focusing on increasing agricultural skills and output. A number of topics are covered including growing rubber, passion fruit and coconuts along with guides on animal husbandry. These texts are primarily in Tok Pisin and English. Bible stories, Religious tracts etc. This collection includes publications from the 1930s until the early 1970s. The texts focus on bibles stories, extracts from the bible translated into Tok Pisin and stories of missionaries to PNG. There are also publications of reports on PNG by Christian organizations and hymns recorded in Tok Ples (local language). Publications are either in English, Tok Pisin or bilingual. General These publications date from the early 1970s. They are a collection of short stories and information booklets recorded in Tok Pisin and Tok Ples. Their content focuses on public awareness and covers topics such as the introduction of currency, local and international geography, insurance and basic skills and knowledge of carpentry. There is also a collection of short stories and poems. Health This collection ranges from the late 1960s to early 1970s. The publications cover various illnesses and include information such as prevention, symptoms and treatment. Public awareness and treatment of Malaria is of a particular focus. Literacy/Primers/Readers/Grammars This collection includes publications from the 1950s to the early 1970s. It includes a number of shorts stories and grammars in both Tok Pisin and local languages. The majority of these texts are design to supplement and assist in understanding, speaking and writing in Tok Pisin. This collection also includes a trilingual English, French and Tok Pisin phrase book. Tok Pisin These publications range from the 1950s to the early 1970s. They examine Tok Pisin and language in PNG in detail. Some of the texts focus on currents affairs in language and also more broadly with one publication in a newsletter format. See Finding aids for details. The digitisation of these microfilms was funded by the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language.

Sources