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CHAPTER 3 Multamia RMT Lauder & Allan F. Lauder

Language Diversity and Endangerment in the Melanesian Cultural Area

Introduction
Language is a natural ability universal among all humans and over six thousand languages
are spoken around the world. Language is acquired by children without conscious effort or
instruction. The ability to use language in humans is based in our biology, and has evolved
through evolution and sets us apart from other species (Bickerton, 1992, Jenkins, 2000,
Smit, 2014). It pervades almost all aspects of our life and without it humanity wouldn’t have
developed civilization, religion, science and technology (Corballis, 2011, Vossler, 2014, Yu,
2013). Language is essential in all spheres of modern society, from from the commonplace
interactions of everyday life, to the complex analysis in science or decision making. It is
reasonable, therefore, that the study of language can help us understand many aspects of
people’s lives (Jackson and Stockwell, 2011, Wardhaugh and Fuller, 2015).
Languge offers a unique perspective on many aspects of human life. One of these
is cultural values and world views. Such things, including views on morality and ethics,
are recorded in different language forms, such as vocabulary, rhymes, folktales, myths,
legends, and idioms. While global languages and the languages of powerful countries
spread their influence widely, the local languages of countries and regions express local
identity and cultural achievement. In some places in the world, the number and diversity of
languages is great. Indonesia, situated in Southeast Asia, is the world’s largest archipelagic
state and is a country with very high linguistic diversity. A total of 719 languages are listed
in Indonesia, making it the second after neighboring Papua New Guinea which has 851
languages (Lewis et al., 2015, Martí et al., 2005: 48).
This chapter looks at the language situation in Indonesia and the countries in the
South West Pacific which are considered to be in the Melenesian area. In order to identify
significant categories and features of languages in the region in a way that allows
comparisons among the different countries, the chapter focuses on a small number of
issues. The first is the question of how many langauges there are and how many speakers

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