Page 142 - THE MELANESIA DIASPORA FILE CETAK ISI 10022017

Graph 4: Language Transmission Scale in New Caledonia
0 International
20
1 National
2 Provincial
15 3 Widespread Communication
4 Education
10 5 Developing
6.a Strong
6.b Threatened
5
7 Shifting
8.a Dying
0 8.b Nearly Extinct
1 2 3 4 5 6a 6b 7 8a 8b 9 10 9 Fading
10 Extinct

The number of individual languages listed for New Caledonia is 39. Of these, 38 are
living and 1 is extinct. Of the living languages, 2 are institutional, 3 are developing, 1 is
vigorous, 24 are in trouble, and 8 are endangered.
Of the endangered languages are 4 dying languages, 8a on the scale, namely Arhâ
[aqr], Neku [nek], Pije [piz], and Vamale [mkt]; there are 3 nearly extinct languages, 8b
on the scale namely Arhö [aok], Haeke [aek], and Pwapwâ [pop]; and there is also 1 fading
language, 9 on the scale namely Sîshȅȅ [sih]. One language is listed as extinct, 10 on the
scale, namely Waamwang [wmn]. The number of languages in the different status levels
can be seen in the graph (Lewis et al., 2015).

Papua New Guinea
The official name of Papua New Guinea is the Independent State of Papua New Guinea. It
has a population of 7,732,000. 18% of its people live in cities. The literacy rate is 57%. Papua
New Guniea occupies the eastern half of the large island of Papua and also approximately
600 other islands to its north east and south east (Lewis et al., 2015).
The main language spoken in Papua New Guinea is Tok Pisin, a pidgin language and
lingua franca. English was the colonial language and although spoken by a minority, is
growing and is used for official purposes for example in broadcasts by the national radio
(Gall and Hobby, 2007).
Papua New Guinea has more languages than any other country in the world, a total of
851 languages. is a country with the most languages in the world; there are 851 languages.
With only 7.36 million people, the average number of speakers per language is about 9,000.
The language situation in Papua New Guinea is very diverse and complex.

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