then intermarriage with Upper Turama Kaser speakers, or even regular interaction with them, could increase the use of Tok Pisin and Hiri Motu within Dukemi and Upper Kikori Kaser villages.
Mouwase
Most adults in the Mouwase area are able to speak Mouwase, Tok Pisin and Hiri Motu. Some people can also speak English, along with other vernaculars. More information about multilingualism is given in
Section 4.2.9. Although Mouwase adults are able to speak several languages, reports indicate that they use
Mouwase as their primary language on a regular basis. In Kibeni, adults usually use Mouwase with their family members, although young adults also use some Tok Pisin and Hiri Motu with their siblings,
middle-aged adults and older men also use some Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu and English when teaching children, and older men may use Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu and English with spouses from outside the area.
Mouwase is also the primary language used in Gibidai, although young men also use some Tok Pisin and Hiri Motu with their parents and siblings, and middle-aged men use Tok Pisin when teaching children.
Barikewa
Apart from two Barikewa speakers in Omati, Barikewa is only spoken in Kaiam village and by a group of people that has moved to a camp west of Omati. All adults in Kaiam can speak Barikewa, most can
speak Tok Pisin, and many can speak Hiri Motu as well. See Section 4.2.9 for more information about
multilingualism in Kaiam. Barikewa is the primary language spoken by adults in Kaiam village. Reports indicate that adults
consistently speak Barikewa to their family members, except that middle-aged men also use some Tok Pisin with their siblings, and when teaching children if they are married to someone from outside the
area.
4.2.4 Adults’ observed language use
Although adults were occasionally observed using Tok Pisin or Hiri Motu, most language use observations throughout the Kaser area were of adults using their own local language. These
observations correspond with the reports that Kaser adults primarily use their local language in most situations.
Ikobi
Adults in the Ikobi language area were observed using Ikobi for the majority of their communication. Out of thirty-three observed speech acts, twenty-two were in Ikobi, six were in Ikobi or Hiri Motu,
10
four were in Tok Pisin and one was in Hiri Motu.
Mouwase
Few language use observations were made in the Mouwase language area, but the survey team did not note adults speaking any language besides Mouwase, except when they were interacting directly with the
survey team. In both Kibeni and Gibidai, a group of adults was observed having a discussion in Mouwase, and in Gibidai middle-aged adults were observed scolding children in Mouwase. The survey
10
Since the surveyor making these observations was not familiar with Hiri Motu or Ikobi, she could not distinguish between these two languages.
team interacted with adults in either Hiri Motu or Tok Pisin, but people appeared to have a hard time understanding Tok Pisin and understood Hiri Motu much better.
Barikewa
Out of seven observed speech acts in the Barikewa village of Kaiam, five were in Barikewa. In addition to those five, an older man was observed speaking Hiri Motu and Rumu to a man from the Fasu language
area, and a drunken young man was observed singing in Tok Pisin.
4.2.5 Summary of reported and observed language use
Both reported and observed data indicate that both adults and children throughout the Kaser area primarily use their own local language. Many adults and children are also able to speak Tok Pisin and
Hiri Motu, but on a regular basis they use their own language more than any other. The consistent use of the vernacular by both adults and children is a very positive sign for the vitality of the languages in the
Kaser area.
4.2.6 Domains of language use
