Vaeakau-Taumako
[également appelé Pileni, Pilheni, Taumako]Classification : Austronesian
·vulnérable
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Vulnérable
100 percent certain, based on the evidence available
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1,662
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"There is a lot of mobility between the islands in each group, and so it is difficult to pinpoint the number of speakers on each island, but at the time of writing there were approximately 200 people living on Nifiloli, 120 on Pileni, 70 on Nukapu, 60 on Nupani, 50 on Matema, 20 on Tinakula, and 10 on Makalumu... Surveys give the number of inhabitants in the Duffs around 4-500 but our personal experience suggests that this number is too low - the actual number may be as high as 800.... The 1999 census reported a total of 1,662 people giving either "Pileni" or "Taumako" as their first language (1142 for Pileni, 520 for Taumako)."
- DATE OF INFO
- 1999
- DOMAINES D'UTILISATION
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- TENDANCES AU NIVEAU DES LOCUTEURS
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- TRANSMISSION
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- MORE ON VITALITY
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"Although a very small language in terms of number of speakers, Vaeakau-Tamako is not likely to have ever had more, and is not immediately endangered in the strict sense of the term. It is still learned by children, and is the main language in most homes and in everyday life on all the Vaeakau-Taumako-speaking islands... there are, however, a number of domains in which Vaeakau-Taumako is losing ground to other languages, primarily English and the national lingua franca Solomon Islands Pijin."
- AUTRES LANGUES PARLÉES PAR LA COMMUNAUTÉ
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English
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Pijin
- COMMENTAIRES SUR LE CONTEXTE DE LA LANGUE
"Firstly, schooling takes place entirely in Pijin and English... Secondly, church service and worship, an important feature of daily life on the islands, is carried out in a mixture of English, Pijin, and Vaeakau-Taumako, with the former clearly dominant... The national media are all in English or Pijin."
- PLACES
- Solomon Islands
- LOCATION DESCRIPTION
"Spoken in the Reef and Duff Islands in Temotu Province... the Vaeakau-Taumako language is spoken on these small and marginal western islands... only Nifiloli, the largest of the Vaeakau-Taumako-speaking islands in the Reefs, is numbered among the Main Reef Islands. In addition to Nifiloli, there are Vaeakau-Taumako speakers living more or less permanently on Pileni, Makalumu, Matema, Nukapu, Nupani, and the active volcano Tinakula... Only three of the Duff Islands - Haiava, Taumako, and the artificial islet Tahua - are currently inhabited... In addition to the speakers living in the Reefs and Duffs, there are several settlements of Vaeakau-Taumako speakers on Santa Cruz Island, and in the White River area on the outskirts of the national capital Honiara."