LANGUAGE POLICY IN OCEANIA: IN THE FRONTIERS OF COLONIZATION AND GLOBALIZATION

Barbosa da Silva, Diego

doi:10.1590/1981-5794-1909-4

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Alfa: Revista de Linguística (São José do Rio Preto)

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Original Articles • Alfa, Rev. Linguíst 63 (2) • Apr-Jun 2019 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1981-5794-1909-4 copy

LANGUAGE POLICY IN OCEANIA: IN THE FRONTIERS OF COLONIZATION AND GLOBALIZATION

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT:

In this article, we present an overview of the language policies adopted in the Oceanian countries and territories after analysis of legislation, plans and government programs. Representing 22.9% of all languages in the world — the vast majority spoken by few people and endangered —, this continent suffered an intense linguistic colonization marked by the instrumentalisation of indigenous languages by missionaries and by the subsequent imposition of European languages as the only ones allowed during European and American imperialism. Such a scenario has broadened the complex linguistic situation in Oceania and has imposed on the countries of the region many challenges about languages to adopt after their independences, in view of the many local problems, which caused the Oceanian peoples to seek diverse political solutions and to become frontier peoples — frontiers of languages, frontiers of meanings, frontiers of memories, frontiers between colonizer languages, indigenous languages and immigrant languages.

KEYWORDS:
Language policy; Oceania; Linguistic colonization; Bilingualism; Languages in contact

Countries (year of independence or country of which it is dependent)	Population UNFPA (millions)	Number of languages Ethnologue 2017ETHNOLOGUE. Languages of the World. 2017. Disponível em: https://www.ethnologue.com. Acesso em: 20 mar. 2018. https://www.ethnologue.com...			Main languages	Percentage of speakers		Language used as
		Indigenous	Immigrants	Main		First language	Second language	Official language	Liíngua Franca	Average education
		Indigenous	Immigrants	Main		First language	Second language	Official language	Liíngua Franca	Pre-primary	Primary	Secondary
American Samoa (USA)	0,055	2	4	2	English Samoan Tongan Japanese Tagalog	2 91 3,2 3 1,3	96	X X (de facto)	X	X X	X X	X
Australia (1901)	24,4	195	+ 150	1	English Chinese Arabic Cantonese Vietnamese Italian Greek Tagalog Hindi Spanish Punjabi Persian Korean German Tamil French Indigenous languages	72,7 2,6 1,4 1,2 1,2 1,2 1,0 0,8 0,7 0,6 0,6 0,5 0,5 0,3 0,3 0,3 0,3	21	X (de facto)	X	X	X	X
Christmas Island (Australia)	0,0018 (2016)	0	6	3	English Chinese Malay Creole of Cocos Islands Cantonese Min nan	27,8 17,2 17,2 3,7 1,5		X (de facto)	X	X	X	X
Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australia)	0,0005 (2016)	0	2	2	English Malay Creole of Cocos Islands	22,2 69,6		X (de facto)		X	X	X
Cook Islands (New Zealand)	0,0173	4	1	2	English Cook Islands Maori Pukapuka Penrhyn	3,8 88,6 4,3 3,2	90	X X (de jure)		X X	X	X
Fiji (1970)	0,9	10	14	3	English Fijian Fiji Hindi Western Fijian Tamil Telugu Bhojpouri Gujarati Rotuman Kiribati Chinese	2,7 35,1 21,7 9,5 8,6 3,6 2,9 2,7 1,2 0,7 0,5	21	X X X (de facto)	X X X	X X X	X	X
French Polynesia (France)	0,283	7	2	2	French Tahitian Tuamotuan Hakka Chinese Austral North-Marquesan South-Marquesan Mangareva	30 44 8 4,7 2,6 1,4 1,3 0,8	35 30	X (de jure)	X X	X	X	X
Guam (USA)	0,164	1	7	3	English Chamorro Tagalog Chuukese Korean Chinese Japanese Palauan	38,3 22,2 22,2 3,4 2,4 1,9 1,8 1,4	61	X X (de jure)	X	X X	X	X
Hawaii²⁵ 25 An official survey by the Government of the State of Hawaii in 2016 found that 74.6% of Hawaiians speak English at home and 25.4% speak other languages (HAWAII, 2016). In this same research, the Hawaiian Pidgin, which reached less than 0.1%, was given as an alternative response. However, according to other researchers as Drager (2012), the number of Creole speakers is still imprecise, but can reach at least half of the Hawaiian population as a second language. We believe, therefore, that during this linguistic census, most of the Creole speakers did not declare themselves, having answered the question as English speakers. (USA)	1,4 (2016)	2	+ 100	3	English Japanese Tagalog Ilocano Hawaiian Spanish Korean Chinese Samoan Hawaiian pidgin	74,6 5 5,4 4 1,7 1,7 1,6 1,2 1	50	X X (de jure)	X	X X	X X	X X
Kiribati (1979)	0,116	1	3	2	English Kiribati Tuvaluan Chinese	2 97 0,5	26	X X (de facto)	X	X	X	X
Marshall Islands (1986)	0,053	1	3	2	English Marshallese Japanese Tagalog	6,8 86,9 0,6 0,6	90	X X (de facto)		X X	X X	X X
Micronesia²⁶ 26 Micronesia is administratively divided into four states. Each state has its official language. The English is official in all along Chuukese in the state of Chuuk, Kosraean in the state of Kosrae, Pohnpeian in the state of Pohnpei, and native languages in the state of Yap. (1986)	0,105	18	2	1	English Chuukese Pohnpeian Kosraean Yapenese	1,8 52,3 25,9 7 5,6	45,1 4,8 6,9 0,5 0,3	X (de facto)	X	X X X X X	X	X
Nauru (1968)	0,011	1	7	2	English Nauruan Kiribati Chinese Tuvaluan Marshallese Kosraean	2 90 2 2 1	64 5	X X (de facto)	X	X X	X	X
New Caledonia (France)	0,276	34	7	1	French Wallisian Drehu Italian Nengone Paicî Tahitian Xârâcùù Ajië Iaai	25,7 8,8 4,9 3,9 3,2 2,8 2,6 2,1 2 1,7	70	X (de jure)	X	X	X	X
New Zealand (1907)	4,7	2	+ 70	2	English Maori Samoan Hindi Chinese French Yue German Tongan Tagalog Afrikaans Spanish Korean Dutch New Zealand Sign language	81 3,7 2,2 1,7 1,3 1,2 1,1 0,9 0,8 0,7 0,7 0,6 0,6 0,6 0,5	15	X X (de jure)	X	X X X	X X X	X X
Niue (New Zealand)	0,0016	1	2	2	English Niuean Tongan	21,3 76,6	32,4 16	X X (de facto)	X	X X	X	X
Norfolk Island (Australia)	0,0017 (2016)	1	1	2	English Norfuk Creole Fijian Tagalog Chinese	45,5 40,9 2 1 0,7	50	X X (de facto)		X	X	X
Northern Marianas Islands (USA)	0,055	3	6	1	English Tagalog Chinese Chamorro Carolinian Korean Palauan Japanese	10,7 24,3 23,4 22,2 3,5 3,4 2,3 1,5	85	X X X (de jure)	X X X	X	X X X	X X X
Palau²⁷ 27 Palau is administratively divided into 16 states and each state has its official language. English is official all along with the Tobian in the state of Tobi, the Sonsorolese in the state of Sonsorol, the Japanese and the Angaur in the state of Angaur and the Palauan in the other states. (1994)	0,021	3	3	2	English Palauan Tagalog Sonsorolese Angaur Japanese Tobian	19 68 10 3 0,7 0,1	79	X X (de jure)		X X	X X	X X
Papua²⁸ 28 About the percentage of speakers of Indonesian and Papuan-Malay Creole as first language for the territories of Papua and West Papua we collected data from the 2010 Indonesian Census and Kluge (2014) respectively. Even when such data appear to be divergent, we have chosen to keep them in line with those references. (Indonesia)	3,67 (2016)	262	1S	2	Indonesian Papuan-Malay Creole Western Dani Western Ekari Javanese	36,5 12,5 8,1 4,5 2,6	14	X (de facto)	X X	X	X	X
Papua-New Guinea (1975)	8,2	839	2	3	English Tok Pisin Hiri Motu Melpa Huli Papuan New Guinean Sign language	1 2 3 2,4 2	5 64	X X X (de facto) X	X X X X X	X	X	X
Pitcairn Islands²⁹ 29 The small population of the Pitcairn Islands does not allow statistics to be drawn up. In addition, the islands only provide school education up to twelve years of age. Onwards, the young must study in New Zealand (LECLERC, 2018). (United Kingdom)	0,000055	1	1	2	English Pitkern Creole			X X (de facto)
Rapa Nui/Easter Island (Chile)	0,0077	1	1	2	Spanish Rapa Nui	78 13,8	19 33	X (de jure)	X	X X	X	X
Samoa (1962)	0,196	1	3	2	English Samoan Maori Chinese	5 93 0,1 0,1	57 6,7	X X (de facto)	X	X	X X	X
Solomon Islands (1978)	0,611	73	3	1	English Pijin (Creole) Kawara'ae ’Are’are Kiribatian	2 6 8 4,5 1	37 76	X (de facto)	X	X X X	X	X
Tokelau³⁰ 30 None of Tokelau’s three atolls have an institution that provides high school. The Tokelauans complete their studies in Samoa (LECLERC, 2018). (New Zealand)	0,0013	1	3	2	English Tokelauan Samoan Tuvaluan	1 93,4 10,5 4,5	57,4 2,7 31,5 2,7	X X (de facto)	X	X	X
Tonga (1970)	0,108	2	2	2	English Tongan Chinese Niuafo'ou	1 96 2 1	87	X X (de facto)	X	X X	X X	X
Tuvalu (1978)	0,011	1	2	2	English Tuvaluan Kiribati	0,5 95 2	86 3	X X (de facto)	X	X X	X	X
Vanuatu (1980)	0,276	107	8	3	English French Bislama Lenakel	2 3,7 4,1 6	60,3 29,4 83	X X X (de jure)	X X X	X X X X	X X	X X
Wallis and Futuna (France)	0,011	2	1	3	French Wallisian East Futunan	10,7 58,9 30	72	X (de jure)	X	X	X	X
Western Papua (Indonesia)	1,36 (2016)	57	1	2	Indonesian Papuan-Malay Creole Javanese Mai Brat Hatam	69,7 22,5 6,2 3,5 2,6	27	X (de facto)	X X	X	X	X

Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho Rua Quirino de Andrade, 215, 01049-010 São Paulo - SP, Tel. (55 11) 5627-0233 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: alfa@unesp.br

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