From English to Tok Pisin: A Sociolinguistic Inquiry of Gender Preference in the New Testament Bible Translation

Abstract

Sexist language in religious texts can be meaningfully explored through the combined perspectives of sociolinguistics and translation studies. Sociolinguistics helps uncover how gendered language reflects and reinforces social norms and power dynamics, while translation studies examine how these patterns are maintained, altered, or challenged when texts are translated into other languages. Together, these approaches offer a deeper understanding of how gender bias is embedded and transmitted through sacred texts. This study examines how gendered terms from the New English Translation (NET) Bible are rendered in the Tok Pisin Buk Baibel (TPBB), focusing on the representation, translation techniques, and shifts in gendered language. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), where Tok Pisin serves as a lingua franca, biblical translations significantly influence cultural perceptions of gender. Despite widespread discussions on gender bias in major languages, limited attention has been given to Tok Pisin Bible translations. Using a qualitative approach, the study analyzed 629 gendered language instances from the Four Gospels of the NET Bible and their Tok Pisin equivalents. Findings of this study revealed that 35.77% of the linguistic data in the form of overt sexism were gender-neutral, 32.75% masculine, and 31.48% feminine. However, 57.52% of originally neutral terms shifted to masculine in Tok Pisin, revealing a gender bias. Masculine terms were preserved in 71.84% of cases, while 87.88% of feminine terms were retained. Translation techniques favored Established Equivalence, while Particularization was common in neutral terms. Quality assessments indicated high readability and acceptability, though accuracy was lower for neutral terms (average score: 2.23). Overall, this study underscores a prevailing tendency toward male-centric translation patterns commonly referred to as the patriarchal standard in the Tok Pisin Buk Baibel, despite efforts at inclusivity. These findings highlight the sociolinguistic impact of translation choices on gender representation in religious texts.