Literacy in a Dying Language: The Case of Kuot, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Kuot is a language in a critical situation. Most adults of lower middle age and older are full speakers but children are not learning it. In other words, it will become extinct in a few decades if nothing is done; but it is not too late if the community decides to turn it around, and do so fast. Thus far, the community has shown little interest. Into this situation, vernacular elementary education was introduced. While the community expects this to work for language survival, the aim of the education policy is the eventual transfer of literacy skills to English. This paper describes the tensions between these conflicting goals, and the various components that make up the specific situation of Kuot, including vernacular literacy, orthographic considerations arising from the language’s precarious situation, and the eventual extension of the internet era to Melanesia.

Keywords:

• vernacular literacy
• orthography
• education
• Papua New Guinea
• Papuan languages
• language death