Internal and external community attitudes

3.1.2 Internal and external community attitudes

There was a difference between what the community said they wanted and how they acted. In Sisimagum, when asked what they think when they hear their children use Tok Pisin, the response given was, “It isn’t good. We are not in agreement with this.” 13 However, this same community also reported using Tok Pisin almost exclusively when they spoke with their children. The communities all reported that they would like their children to learn Awar and use it. To some degree, they all reported feeling angst about the current shift toward Tok Pisin. These internal attitudes toward the language were mirrored in the external attitudes. Outsiders have little motivation to learn the language and perceive that the Awar people themselves are unmotivated to maintain the language. Awar is not used in any school. None of the teachers at the primary school in Sisimagum are Awar speakers. When asked if it would be helpful for the teachers to know Awar the headmaster asked, “Why? None of the children know their tok ples.” 14 There are no functioning elementary schools in the Awar villages. There is one starting up in Awar village, but the teacher says he will do everything in English using Tok Pisin to help explain. The teachers living in Sisimagum, all of whom are not from Awar, have not learned Awar; nor has there been any pressure for them to learn Awar, according to the headmaster. He did report that some of the teacher’s own children have learned a little Awar, but “just a couple of phrases.” 15 From the perspective of teachers, the only outsiders living in the Awar area, the community does not seem eager to help outsiders learn their language. There are two churches in Awar, a Roman Catholic Church in Sisimagum and a Seventh Day Adventist Church SDA in Nubia. Church leaders from both congregations report using Awar for some songs and occasionally while praying. When asked specifically about the need for a translation of the Bible in Awar, the SDA pastor said that it would be well used and help people use their language again. The prayer leader of the Roman Catholic Church responded that Tok Pisin is too dominant and a translation into Awar would not be worth the effort.

3.1.3 Language use of immigrants