Paragogue

Just as vernaculars permit fewer consonant clusters, very seldom do they have words ending with consonants. And just as epenthesis can break up unwanted consonant clusters, paragogue is used in avoidance of word-final consonants. Most rural speakers, and older speakers for whom vernaculars are the overwhelming medium of communication will tend to add a final vowel to Pijin words derived from English words ending in a consonant, again according to the same principle of vowel harmony. Hence, several of the words listed above may be further expanded as follows, in order to arrive at preferred CV(CV) syllable structures:

In sum, it should be stressed that (a) there are regional differences in the phonology of Pijin and that (b) even in the capital city Honiara, there is no uniform, homogenized variety. However, as explained in the introduction, sociolinguistic norms are developing. People can often tell where someone comes from by their accent; age, education and other sociolinguistic variables play an important role in determining how people will speak.