Linguistic demography: Interpreting the 1989 census results in Vanuatu

Abstract

Melanesia is a part of the world that is both highly diverse linguistically, as well as being relatively little known. Language issues tended to receive low priority in colonial times, and have continued to receive low priority since the gaining of political independence. Even the listing of languages and the counting of their speakers have traditionally been left up to linguists rather than official census takers. Where censuses attempt to elicit linguistic information, seemingly odd results often emerge. This paper examines the results of the first census in the republic of Vanuatu to ask questions about language ability. It demonstrates that while the census data do allow us to estimate how many people speak a particular vernacular, we are required to consider a wide range of demographic information in order to arrive at such estimates.

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