Language Research in Papua New Guinea: A Case Study of Awar

Abstract

Papua New Guinea features today as one of the nations with the highest linguistic diversity on Earth, with 820 languages for just over five million people. Each language represents a cultural identity and a vision of the world; all are of oral tradition, and quite a few of them are threatened with disappearance. A linguist’s passion is to write down and describe these languages for cultural conservation and literacy purposes. In this article, after a brief overview of language groups in PNG in general, the author shares her experience of linguistic research in the Awar community in the northern part of Madang province. By using illustrations from Awar, she explores the importance of language in forming one’s worldview as well as the goals, methods and tools of the linguist.

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