Will Cyberforums Save Endangered Languages? A Niuean Case Study
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Wolfgang B. Sperlich
Abstract
Pacific Island nations have recently been involved in selling their country domain names, notably, “.nu” (for Niue) and “.tv” (for Tuvalu). In Niue's case this has given free access to the Internet to those living in Niue, resulting in a subsequent rise in their participation in Web-based forums that deal exclusively with Niuean issues. One site, OKA-KOA, based in Australia and modeled on the KAVABOWL Web site catering generally to Pacific Islanders, has a number of forums in which Niueans discuss everything from politics to family weddings. Included is a forum dedicated to Niuean language issues. This paper analyzes the Niuean language use in the OKA-KOA site, looking at the potential for a Niuean language renaissance. On the positive side, Web-based discourse allows the Niuean diaspora to communicate with each other and with native-speaking Niueans who still reside in Niue, boosting exposure to native language use. However, as examples indicate, the fast-changing technology driving the Web attracts users of English and fosters a code-mixed English and Niuean insider language. In conclusion, speculations on the benefits offered online for the Niuean language are made.
© Walter de Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- The Sociolinguistics of Status in Pohnpei
- Competing Agendas in Indigenous-Language Renewal: Initial Vernacular Education in Vanuatu
- Will Cyberforums Save Endangered Languages? A Niuean Case Study
- Factors Favoring and Disfavoring Obsolescence in the South Pacific: A Case Study of Rotuman
- Using Māori English in New Zealand
- In search of the Missing Māori Links—Maintaining Both Ethnic Identity and Linguistic Integrity in the Revitalization of the Māori Language
- Covert Attitudes to Māori
- Māori Intergenerational Language Transmission
- Book Review
- Tlingit Language Immersion Retreats: Creating New Language Habitat for the Twenty-First Century
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- The Sociolinguistics of Status in Pohnpei
- Competing Agendas in Indigenous-Language Renewal: Initial Vernacular Education in Vanuatu
- Will Cyberforums Save Endangered Languages? A Niuean Case Study
- Factors Favoring and Disfavoring Obsolescence in the South Pacific: A Case Study of Rotuman
- Using Māori English in New Zealand
- In search of the Missing Māori Links—Maintaining Both Ethnic Identity and Linguistic Integrity in the Revitalization of the Māori Language
- Covert Attitudes to Māori
- Māori Intergenerational Language Transmission
- Book Review
- Tlingit Language Immersion Retreats: Creating New Language Habitat for the Twenty-First Century
