Bougainville and Language Lovers

On December 11^th, 2019, the results of a non-binding independence referendum in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (ARB) were released: Of the 181,000 ballots, 98.38% were in favor of independence. The ARB is composed of several islands in the southwestern Pacific, where the Island of Bougainville is the largest one. Those islands are geographically and culturally close to the Solomon Islands which constitute an independent country. We are talking about an area of 9,384 km² and a population of almost 250 thousand people. In today’s world, this kind of news seems not to be very relevant, but for linguists and language lovers in general, such an event can catch much more attention.

The ARB is trying to separate from Papua New Guinea to become an independent state. You can read more on BBC News.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is the most linguistically diverse country that exists. It is estimated that there are at least 840 languages spoken in this country, but this number can be easily much higher as there are still many uncontacted groups.  Any political event that might lead to the division of this country is something that concerns linguist academics, especially those who study the languages around the Pacific Ocean, where almost a third of world languages are spoken.

According to the book “Bougainville Before the Conflict”, in the chapter named “The Languages of Bougainville” by Darrell Tryon, there are 16 Austronesian languages and 9 Papuan languages. For more relevant information we can include that the official language of the ARB is English, but the language used mostly to intercommunicate is Tok Pisin, a Creole language influenced by English, German, Portuguese, Malay and other Austronesian languages. Both Tok Pisin and English are alongside with Hiri Motu, official languages of PNG.     

The ARB is the home of some interesting languages. One of them is Rotokas, a language spoken by approx 4300 people living in Bougainville Island. Rotokas language is famous for its extremely small phonetic inventory. Its alphabet consists of only 5 vowels (a, e, i, o and u) and 6 consonants (b, g, k, p, r, t); Letter “s” is used in certain circumstances. Rotokas alphabet is considered the shortest alphabet in existence.

There are very few pages where you can read or listen to examples of this language. However, there is a translation of the New Testament in Rotokas. You can read it on Bible.com.    

I am going to post here a verse taken from the Bible: from Mat 7,12:  

“Ovovourovu rutupa ruipapata oiso ra vara purapaive oirara visiipa. Oire vo vovouro raga pura rovopata voeapa, uvare va-a vao Reo Taisi rutu vituaro ora vao profet irara vo siposipoaro vituaro”.

"So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets”. (English Standard Version)

If Bougainville gets its independence and becomes a sovereign state, this fact will not change the status of PNG as the country most linguistically diverse of the world. According to Ethnologue, the second country in terms of number of languages is Indonesia with 710 and then comes Nigeria with 524.

Professional researchers interested in the languages of Bougainville, they will have to deal with a new country. This is very important, especially if they have to go to research onsite.

But according to some analysts, this change will not happen that soon. It may take years of negotiations before we see any relevant change. But languages are part of a living society and the more they change the more influence they have over the way they communicate.