O tatou ō aga’i i fea?/`Oku tau ō ki fe?/Where are we heading?: Pasifika languages in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Abstract

This paper examines the health of the four largest Pasifika Languages in Aotearoa/New Zealand (NZ). It uses perspectives and interpretations from the researchers and writers who are at the same time, parents and grandparents of Pasifika children of Tongan, Samoan, and Cook Islands ancestry. It examines findings from a major sociolinguistic study examining the languages in New Zealand’s most multicultural city, between 2000- 2008; the 2006 Census and insider sources. These indicate that all Pasifika languages in the Realm of Aotearoa/New Zealand are showing significant signs of language shift and loss, with several unlikely to survive unless urgent language maintenance and revival measures are adopted. It seeks reasons for Pasifika families language shift to greater use of English. It argues that the discourses of family language private use, and English for education and public use, arose in the Pacific, came with the migrations, and is deeply entrenched in NZ. Expanding the role of Pasifika languages into education and the public domain through Bilingual/Immersion Education is suggested as the prime strategy for future survival.