Climate migration and Tokelauan language endangerment

Abstract

Migration motivated by anthropogenic climate change is expected to affect a significant population of individuals in the near-to-immediate future. As a direct consequence of climate change and the subsequent migration that it triggers, migrant languages face an existential threat. This chapter examines the flow-on effect of climate change to Pacific languages, and how this leads to an increased demand for language resources and translation services for migrant languages. This will be highlighted by observing the case study of Tokelau, an island state which is expected to be among the first to suffer the consequences of climate change, and where migration has already resulted in more Tokelauan speakers being located in diasporic regions than in the islands themselves.