A profile of the Fiji English lexis

Tent, Jan

doi:10.1075/eww.22.2.03ten

Article published In: English World-Wide
Vol. 22:2 (2001) ► pp.209–245

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A profile of the Fiji English lexis

Jan Tent

Published online: 25 March 2002

https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.22.2.03ten

The vocabulary of Fiji English is one of its most distinguishing features. English has a profound influence upon the lives of all Fiji Islanders — it is the principal language of government, the judiciary, education and commerce. This paper examines some of the sources and features of the Fiji English lexis, the most common of which include: borrowings, reborrowings, calques, new coinages, semantic shifts, archaisms, and hybrid compounds. It also outlines some of the lexical affinities with and divergences from other varieties of English.

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