endangeredlanguages.com

Did you know Vaeakau-Taumako is vulnerable?

Although children are still learning Vaeakau-Taumako, the language is in danger from rising sea levels. Speakers may need to move to Santa Cruz or Honiara to survive in the longer term, leading to an increase in the use of Pijin, and potentially the disappearance of the Vaeakau-Taumako language.

Pileni, Pilheni, Taumako

Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, Polynesian

ISO 639-3

piv

As csv

OLAC search

Information from: “A Grammar of Vaeakau-Taumako” . Åshild Næss and Even Hovdhaugen (2011) Walter de Gruyter

  • Vulnerable
    100 percent certain, based on the evidence available
  • 1,662

  • "There is a lot of mobility between the islands in each group, and so it is difficult to pinpoint the number of speakers on each island, but at the time of writing there were approximately 200 people living on Nifiloli, 120 on Pileni, 70 on Nukapu, 60 on Nupani, 50 on Matema, 20 on Tinakula, and 10 on Makalumu... Surveys give the number of inhabitants in the Duffs around 4-500 but our personal experience suggests that this number is too low - the actual number may be as high as 800.... The 1999 census reported a total of 1,662 people giving either "Pileni" or "Taumako" as their first language (1142 for Pileni, 520 for Taumako)."

DATE OF INFO
1999

DOMAINS OF USE

SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS

TRANSMISSION

MORE ON VITALITY

"Although a very small language in terms of number of speakers, Vaeakau-Tamako is not likely to have ever had more, and is not immediately endangered in the strict sense of the term. It is still learned by children, and is the main language in most homes and in everyday life on all the Vaeakau-Taumako-speaking islands... there are, however, a number of domains in which Vaeakau-Taumako is losing ground to other languages, primarily English and the national lingua franca Solomon Islands Pijin."

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

  • English

  • Pijin

LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS

"Firstly, schooling takes place entirely in Pijin and English... Secondly, church service and worship, an important feature of daily life on the islands, is carried out in a mixture of English, Pijin, and Vaeakau-Taumako, with the former clearly dominant... The national media are all in English or Pijin."

PLACES
Solomon Islands
LOCATION DESCRIPTION

"Spoken in the Reef and Duff Islands in Temotu Province... the Vaeakau-Taumako language is spoken on these small and marginal western islands... only Nifiloli, the largest of the Vaeakau-Taumako-speaking islands in the Reefs, is numbered among the Main Reef Islands. In addition to Nifiloli, there are Vaeakau-Taumako speakers living more or less permanently on Pileni, Makalumu, Matema, Nukapu, Nupani, and the active volcano Tinakula... Only three of the Duff Islands - Haiava, Taumako, and the artificial islet Tahua - are currently inhabited... In addition to the speakers living in the Reefs and Duffs, there are several settlements of Vaeakau-Taumako speakers on Santa Cruz Island, and in the White River area on the outskirts of the national capital Honiara."

Information from: “Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 18th Edition” . Lewis, M. Paul, Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig · SIL International

  • Threatened
    20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
  • 1,660

  • (SIL)

DATE OF INFO
1999
SPEAKER ATTITUDE
"Positive attitudes."
OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

  • Äiwoo [nfl]

  • Pijin [pis]

PLACES
Solomon Islands
LOCATION DESCRIPTION

"Temotu Province, widespread throughout Duff and Reef islands, including on Matema, Taumako, Nupani, Nukapu, Pileni, and Nifiloli."