How can I revive or maintain my language?

LANGUAGE

A NUMBER of readers have written me to say that they are concerned because their language is dying and their children no longer speak it. They are concerned, but do not know what to do to reverse the decline of their language, either in their community at large or in their own family.
This is sadly becoming more and more common in PNG, as Tok Pisin becomes the family language in many households. As languages die out, so does the rich cultural heritage of this nation. What can be done if you see your language dying?
The simplest answer is to use your language with your children and grandchildren. Children have the capacity to learn several languages at once, but will only do so if they see a purpose. One purpose can be to make their parents and grandparents happy. Children all seek their elders’ praise and affection, so if they are praised and given love when they use their own language, they will associate speaking their language with something positive.
It never helps to scold children for speaking Tok Pisin or English at home, but you can set a firm family rule that inside your home, they should speak your language. This can be encouraged with gentle rules, such as if they want a treat to eat, they have to ask in your language; if they ask in Tok Pisin they will be teased and asked if they don’t know how to say it in their own language.
This may sound simple, but of course it isn’t always simple to speak your own language. You may be living in an urban area where Tok Pisin or another common language is spoken. Or you may be living in a province that is far from your home. Some people feel uncomfortable speaking in their own language in the presence of people who don’t understand what they are saying.

But you should remember that just about all Papua New Guineans respect and understand the importance of culture and tradition, so you can apologise to those around you and explain that because your children will need to grow up and understand their language, your family has a strict rule to always speak in your language with the children. Most people will understand this.
Most older people still speak local languages. For grandparents it will be a delight to be able to spend time with the children, either by babysitting at home or by having the children visiting them at home during school holidays. It will usually not be difficult to convince them to adopt a “local language only” policy during such visits.
If your children are still young, they will grow up seeing this use of your language in home settings as normal. If they are older and you have been using Tok Pisin or English with them, it would be good to have a family consultation about language and have them help to make the decision when and how to use your language in the family. It may be that they will be motivated if you are learning the language from Grandmother together with them so that you can see who will learn the language faster.
Families where the parents are of different ethnic backgrounds will need to decide how to proceed. If one parent already speaks the language of the other parent, it may be better to choose that language as the family language. In other families a plan where the mother speaks her language with the children and the father speaks his language can work.

Children have the ability to learn several languages at once when they are young. As long as both parents (and all the grandparents) sticks to their own languages, the children will not be confused. Parents should also not think that by using their own languages at home that their children’s English will suffer.
Languages are, of course, community as well as family phenomena. While families are the most important place for languages to grow, it is also good to make language revival a topic for the entire community or hauslain. It is a topic that can be brought up in community meetings, church groups, and P&C events. A community decision to encourage children to address adults in their local language instead of Tok Pisin can be reinforced by gently reminding children to use their language and to praise children who do. There might even be a Tok Ples Champion prize at end of year school awards.
At a more formal level, language documentation is important to make sure that future generations have access to your language. This can be as formal and involved as having a trained linguist writing a detailed grammar of your language or as informal as you recording songs and uploading them to YouTube. It is important that as much of your language is recorded one way or another so that if it ever dies out, your descendants will have access to the words, sentence patterns, and sounds of your language.
Language revitalisation is not an easy task. It requires patience and focused dedication. But without conscious attention to your language, there is a very good chance that Tok Pisin and English will take up more and more of the space in which your language has lived for thousands of years. When that happens, a very special part of human knowledge and creativity will die out. It is up to us in this generation to make sure that this does not happen.

• Professor Volker is a linguist living in New Ireland, and an Adjunct Professor in The Cairns Institute, James Cook University in Australia. He welcomes your language questions for this monthly discussion at http://[email protected]. Or continue the discussion on the Facebook Language Toktok page.