Volume 2005, Issue 172

Pohnpeian is one of several Pacific languages with a complex honorific speech register. Studying everyday interactions in which honorific speech occurs reveals that the use of these status-marking forms is not as regularized as native speakers imply or as theories would predict. This suggests that asymmetries of status may be context-specific in ways that are not revealed by generalized descriptions of a society's social organization. Looking at particular interactions contributes to our understanding of the situated, collaborative process of creating and sustaining social difference. Pohnpeians use honorifics to create status relationships between individuals when referring to a person's activities, such as giving and taking or coming and going, as well as when referring to possessions, knowledge states, food and eating. In Pohnpei, as in some other Pacific societies, high and low status are linked to vertical as well as horizontal spatial orientations, so that space can be reinterpreted in a way that is analogous to status markings in language. This paper discusses some of the ways speakers use language to build notions of “high status” and “low status” not just as different levels, but as saliently different spheres of influence and efficacy.

Vanuatu, being linguistically the world's most complex nation in terms of number of languages per head of population, faces unique linguistic problems. These issues are made more complex by the inheritance of both English and French as official languages of education from the colonial era, and the English-lexifier pidgin / creole Bislama as the national language. Basic mission-based education was conducted originally through the medium of local vernaculars, but as the colonial state moved into education from the 1960s, emphasis shifted to the exclusive use of either English or French in schools. Two decades after independence, Vanuatu is now examining prospects for implementing a program of initial vernacular education in conjunction with a range of other major changes in educational practice. This discussion examines the sometimes conflicting attitudes toward this idea from the various stakeholders, including the parents of children, education officials, francophones and anglophones, expatriates and locals, academic linguists, international advisors, and national politicians. While there is considerable goodwill toward the new policy from a variety of sources, there are sufficient tensions between different groups of stakeholders that success in implementing this policy cannot be ensured.

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.

The Rotuman language situation is unique in many ways. The language has no official status in Fiji, nor is it the medium of education on the island of Rotuma, though literacy rates are high. There is virtually no reading material in Rotuman, with the exception of the recently published Bible. The language has no close relatives, its nearest relations being Fijian and the Polynesian languages within the Eastern Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian family. The size of the island and its relative isolation from Fiji's main islands, to and from which there is sparse transportation, are additional obstacles. With no restaurants or hotels, tourism is not encouraged, though there has been wavering on the part of the Council of Chiefs on this matter. The only cash crop is copra; various industries and businesses have failed. The island relies largely on remittances from relatives living overseas. Indeed, recent rumblings about Rotuman independence reflect feelings of frustration over the slow rate of development on the island. This paper looks at the viability of Rotuman, following the approach proposed by Edwards (1992) and modified by Grenoble and Whaley (1998), to provide a picture of the factors which affect language maintenance and obsolescence in insular regions of the South Pacific.

This paper reviews research relating to Māori varieties of English in New Zealand. Research on linguistic features of Māori English is first summarized, and then some of the ways in which Māori and Pākehā conversationalists use English differently in relation to a number of speech functions are explored. The structural features reviewed include phonological, syntactic, lexical, and semantic features of Māori English. Pragmatic features are also considered, including the distinctive high-rising terminal intonation contour, the pragmatic tag eh , and similarities and differences between Pākehā and Māori in the use of verbal feedback in English conversation. Some features of the structure of spontaneous narratives told by Māori and Pākehā are discussed, as well as differences in the way humor is used by Māori and Pākehā New Zealanders in relaxed conversations. The paper concludes by indicating some of the most obvious areas for further research.

For Māori, the correct answer to the question “Who are you?” for any individual lies in the formulaic sayings of each of his or her own extended family and tribal groupings whose ancestral lands and waterways are located throughout Aotearoa / New Zealand. Genealogy is also an important and highly prized means of identification. In this article the saying of Te Whānau Moana group of extended families ( hapū ) of Karikari in the far northern region of the country is explained as an example. Given that such sayings are always expressed in Māori, the question arises as to how children whose parents and teachers are not good speakers of Māori will fare in terms of identity. Difficulties in the Māori language of teachers and children in Māori-language immersion preschools and schools ( kōhanga reo and kura kaupapa Māori ) are identified as grammar-related. Solutions are suggested whereby the grammar of second-language learners can be improved.

The paper explores the writer's intuition that some practices and opinions, though overtly they may seem to reflect positive attitudes toward Māori, may in fact stem from a implicit “monolingual” attitude essentially inimical to the expressly pursued goal of the maintenance of the language.

Te Puni Kōkiri [Ministry of Māori Development] undertook qualitative research into the factors that support or hinder the intergenerational transmission of the Māori language among Māori families premised on the notion that this is the cornerstone of the overall revitalization of Māori. The research was undertaken in four communities that reflect the diverse realities of Māori life; fifty Māori parents participated in eight focus groups over a two-month period. The research participants were asked various questions about their knowledge and use of Māori in family situations. The research was organized around four key themes: – language knowledge: parents must have sufficient knowledge of the language and confidence in their abilities; – situation: certain environmental factors encourage or hinder the use of Māori; – motivation: parents must want or need to speak and transmit Māori to future generations; and – critical awareness: parents should be aware of the decisions they can make about the transmission of Māori to their children, and the consequences thereof. There is significant overlap between the four factors and their various subcomponents. In reality, they are inextricably and organically linked in any individual. However, they have been arbitrarily divided here for the purposes of this report.

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI), an Alaska Native nonprofit corporation, operated three Tlingit language immersion retreats in 2002 and 2003, wherein we aimed to create a habitat for 100% Tlingit language use. I present an overview of how SHI organized and operated these retreats, along with discussion of challenges that occurred, especially: catering to learners of different levels of language ability, the pressures to use English, and addressing interpersonal conflicts when language abilities are limited.