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Tok Pisin until they start school. In addition, some children in Poronga can speak Avau, children in Atui can understand Mangseng and Amio children who have been to school can understand English.
However, although children are able to speak other languages, in all four villages it was reported that they learn Amio-Gelimi first, speak it as well as adults by the time they go to school and speak
primarily Amio-Gelimi to their family members in the village. Forty-seven of the immigrants to the area have children, and all of their children are also reportedly able to speak Amio-Gelimi well. In Kaskas,
Atui and Poronga, children were reported to speak only Amio-Gelimi to their grandparents, parents, siblings and friends, or when they are angry. In Amio children reportedly speak Amio-Gelimi when they
are addressing their parents and grandparents, or when they are angry, but they use both Amio-Gelimi and Tok Pisin when speaking to their siblings and friends.
It was also reported in every village that children do mix other languages with Amio-Gelimi. In Amio children mix a little Tok Pisin with Amio-Gelimi, and respondents said that that is not good because
children should speak Tok Pisin and English at school but not mix them with Amio-Gelimi. People in Kaskas said that children mix a lot of Tok Pisin with Amio-Gelimi and they think that is not good
because use of the local language decreases when languages are mixed. In Atui children mix a lot of Tok Pisin at school, which their parents think is all right, and they use only Amio-Gelimi when they are at
home in the village. Children in Poronga reportedly often mix other unspecified languages with Amio- Gelimi, and people think that is good.
4.2.2 Children’s observed language use
Observations of children’s language use confirm reported data, since children were observed to speak mostly Amio-Gelimi, with a bit of Tok Pisin as well. Out of thirteen instances of observed children’s
speech, only two were in Tok Pisin and the rest were in Amio-Gelimi. Furthermore, six children in Atui were observed playing for approximately twenty minutes and all of their speech was in Amio-Gelimi. A
group of children was also observed playing in Amio, and all of their conversation was in Amio-Gelimi, with the exception of a few short Tok Pisin phrases.
4.2.3 Adults’ reported language use
In all four villages people reported that Amio-Gelimi is the primary language used by adults in the area, which is a positive sign for the vitality of the Amio-Gelimi language. All adults in the area, with the
exception of some immigrants, speak Amio-Gelimi, and everyone can speak Tok Pisin as well, with the exception of young women in Atui and old women in Poronga. Young adults in Amio, Kaskas and Atui
also speak some English, as do middle-aged adults in Atui. Older men in Kaskas and Poronga can speak a little English. Older and middle-aged adults in Amio also understand English, and older men in Atui and
young men in Poronga can understand a little. Some people also speak other vernaculars such as Mangseng, Lote, Avau and Akolet. See section 4.2.9 for more information regarding multilingualism in
other vernaculars.
Although most adults in the Amio-Gelimi area can also speak Tok Pisin, and many can speak English as well, Amio-Gelimi is reportedly used more often than any other language. In every village it was
reported that Amio-Gelimi is the only language that adults use on a regular basis when interacting with their family members. The only exceptions to this report are in Amio, where middle-aged adults use
some Tok Pisin, along with Amio-Gelimi, when teaching children, and Poronga, where middle-aged adults use Amio-Gelimi with some Tok Pisin when teaching or scolding children.
4.2.4 Adults’ observed language use
