AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples

There is evidence to suggest that the different languages of Pasifika peoples in New Zealand are declining (Taumoefolau, Bell, & Starks, 2003). This decline, particularly apparent in Manukau, South Auckland, is a challenge. There are two sides to the challenge. The first involves the interrelationship between language and culture. The second is the possible decline of the English achievements of Pasifika students, especially those who attend schools in New Zealand, who speak a Pasifika language as a first language and English as a second language. This paper discusses the implications of this decline, particularly in terms of identity and academic success for Samoan people living in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

This paper examines the health of the four largest Polynesian Pasifika languages in Aotearoa/New Zealand (New Zealand). It presents perspectives and interpretations from the researchers and writers who are at the same time, parents and grandparents of Pasifika children of Tongan, Samoan and Cook Islands ancestry. It examines: findings from the 2006 Census; a major socio-linguistic study examining these four languages in New Zealand's most multicultural city between 2000 and 2008; and insider community sources. These indicate that Pasifika languages in New Zealand show significant signs of language shift and loss, with several languages unlikely to survive unless urgent maintenance and revival measures are adopted. It seeks reasons for the shift of Pasifika families to using more English. It argues that the discourses of family language for private use, and English for education and public use, emerged in the Pacific, came with the migrants and is now deeply entrenched in New Zealand. The paper suggests that expanding the role of Pasifika languages into education and the public domain through Bilingual/Immersion Education is the prime strategy for future survival of these languages. We use initial capitals for the term Bilingual/Immersion Education in this article to indicate that this is a major world approach to education. Following Baker (2006), Garcia (2009), and May and Hill (2005), we use bilingual and immersion to cover all forms of first language and second language medium education. This dual use is very important in New Zealand where until recently a rigid and artificial separation was made between Bilingual Education and Immersion Education (May & Hill, 2005, 2008).

“Will the Māori language of the Cook Islands die?” (Tongia, in Crocombe & Crocombe, 2003, p. 105). Statistics show that the Cook Islands Māori language and its dialects are in decline and are considered endangered (Cook Island Statistics Office, 2006). This is not an issue that the Cook Islands face alone. Many indigenous nations worldwide are dealing with increasing use of the English language. Innovative ways to protect their languages and cultures from encroaching globalization are being explored. It is timely to move from the language of critique to that of transformation and hope (Hau'ofa, cited in Robie, 1992). To this end, this paper explores early-childhood educational initiatives which have been implemented, and examines the constraints to development of authentic educational practices and initiatives implemented in the last decade by the Cook Islands, particularly in early-childhood education programmes aiming to regain culture and language. Further initiatives are considered to strengthen authentic and traditional practices. The term “maroro Māori” (flying fish) has been coined to describe the interspersing of English and Māori in sentence structures (Crocombe & Crocombe, 2003). This phenomenon, known as code-mixing, is explored as an innovative practice in the process of language evolution.

Pacific languages face extinction unless efforts are made to retain them. This paper recommends two ways to avoid this: incorporate Pacific languages and knowledge into research and teaching at tertiary level education, and create or adopt a universal auxiliary language.

Pacific females are achieving significantly better than males at secondary through to tertiary level study. This paper argues the need to review educational outcomes through a Pacific gender lens to identify how cultural expectations might influence the school experience today. The concept of a Samoan gender lens is explored and applied. Findings are that Samoan males and females are limited by cultural values and expectations, but in different ways. While Samoan women are using their customary place to access and negotiate educational ventures, the sporting successes of Pacific males and the role of the peer group (“bros”) may be encouraging males (and their parents) to hold more strongly to non-academic ways of maintaining prestige. The paper concludes that some renegotiation of the faaSamoa (Samoan way of life) gendered roles is needed within families and within educational policies and programmes.

“Te Ipukarea” is symbolic of who we are as a people of the Cook Islands, firmly rooted and grounded in our belief systems, epistemologies, traditions and customs, culture and language. In the cosmology of today's fast and changing world it is imperative that we stand tall in our pride; in our knowledge and wisdom (Tu Rangatira) of who we are; individually; and most importantly, as a collective entity in the Cook Islands, Aotearoa, Australia, Pasifika and other parts of the world. The survival of our language and culture is dependent on our collective willpower and the conscientisation of our minds and spirits in reclaiming, reaffirming and recreating the very fabric and matrix of our indigeneity as the people of the Cook Islands, so that this generation and every generation to follow can stand tall with pride and resilience, confident in the knowledge of who they are, and determined to live their indigeneity.

This discussion by the Vagahau Niue (Niue language) talanoa group pertains to the struggle against the loss of Vagahau Niue and culture in Aotearoa/New Zealand. We talk critically about ideas that will revive and maintain Vagahau Niue in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The talanoa group knows and understands that our language is at risk. This knowledge is strengthened by our use of existing figures available on Pacific Islands languages in Aotearoa/New Zealand, shared by the pulotu (knowledgeable), John McCaffery. These figures show that Vagahau Niue has a dangerously low number of users.

The decline of the Samoan language spoken by Samoan people in New Zealand is ringing alarm bells for the Samoan community. It is a serious issue and a challenge facing the Samoan people. A study conducted in South Auckland in 2002 entitled “Languages of Manukau” has concluded that Pasifika languages in New Zealand, including the Samoan language, are declining (Bell, Starks, & Taumoefolau, 2002). Further decline from 48% to 44%, particularly in the case of New Zealand-born Samoans who can speak Samoan, was registered in the 2006 Census (Collins, 2008). The objective of this paper is to examine practices and strategies collected from various narratives and comments the Samoan Talanoa Group brought to the discussion table. These stories reflect the situation and some of the causes of language loss, and may lead to effective strategies to minimize and address the issue facing the Samoan people. These practices may become leading paradigms that will empower and reinforce the maintenance of the Samoan language in New Zealand.

The aim of this commentary is to address, in the Tongan language, the challenges of language and cultural loss by Tongan people in Aotearoa/New Zealand, and what Tongan people are doing about the imposition. The comments, ideas and perspectives advanced here are based on the assumption that Tongan language and culture are knowledge-and wisdom-different from the philosophies of the West. The discussion focuses on talanoa, a Tongan social construct conceptualized and applied as an approach to good living and the creation of cultural relationships in social, spiritual and political contexts.

The second half of the commentary discusses talanoa as a Tongan pedagogical approach in the education of Tongan adults and children at all stages of the education system. Talanoa is a deep and meaningful approach, and by using it (Tongan) teachers, educators and researchers can promote and encourage critical and advanced thinking, leading to higher learning and deeper understanding. In academia, talanoa is becoming a Tongan research method.

The commentary concludes by calling on Tongan people to further our talanoa in Tongan language and culture as a way to deepen our thinking and develop our critical perspectives of the relationship between the body, soul (heart) and mind, these being the “sites” of Tongan knowledge and wisdom.