Neko language Table 15. Summary of Neko immigration
Men Women
Total Population
of Immigrants Damoing
1 7
8 220
4 Warai
5 21
26 223
12 Totals
6 28
34 443
8 The immigration patterns for the two villages visited in Neko differ widely, but the main reason for
immigration is marriage. This is true even among the men, where three of the six men immigrated due to marriage. The other three settled in the area because of church work.
Table 16. Summary of Neko emigration Men
Women Total
Population of Emigrants
Damoing 6
7 13
220 6
Warai 25
42 67
223 23
Totals 31
49 80
443 15
The strong difference between Damoing and Warai villages also appears in the emigration patterns. While 6 percent of the residents reportedly leave Damoing, Warai reports a percentage that is almost
four times that of Damoing. Warai reported twenty men working in Madang and six men living in various provinces. They also
reported ten women living on the Rai Coast, ten living in Madang town, seven in other parts of Madang province and fifteen living in other provinces.
There do not appear to be any specific settlements of Neko speakers in Madang or anywhere else. In general, the high emigration rate for Warai has a negative effect on the vitality of the language.
However, they reported that the men return to the village reasonably often, speak the language when they return, and bring their children who also speak Neko.
3.1.10 Marriage patterns
Most men within the Yabong, Migum, Nekgini and Neko language areas marry women from within their own language group, with a small number of men marrying someone from another language area. When
a marriage does occur with someone from outside the language area, the general pattern across all four language groups is for the wife to move to the husband’s village.
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There are exceptions. For example, when young single men emigrate to find work they often settle away from the language community and marry a woman from that area.
Yabong language In three of the four Yabong villages, each village has four to seven women married in from outside the
language area.
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Basor is the exception, with ten women married in from the neighbouring Karo language, as well as four women from various other languages.
We were only able to gather data about the languages spoken by nine of the thirty women reported to be married into the Yabong language area out of a population of 938. Respondents said that four of
these women learned the language quickly and speak it well while five of them have not learned it. It is reported that the children of the women who learned Yabong also speak Yabong. One of the women who
did not learn Yabong is from the Neko language. She speaks Neko and Tok Pisin, as do her children.
Respondents stated that the only men who have come into the area are ten Karo men who bought land in Baded twenty years ago. We were unable to determine whether these men are married to women
from Baded or from their own language area. Migum language
There are only two known villages within the Migum language area, and they will be described separately as there are notable differences between them.
Three men and four women are married into Lamtub out of a population of 304. One of the men and one of the women married in about twenty years ago, and interviewees reported that this man can
understand Migum, but not speak it. All the rest have been married between one and three years. One of the men, who has been married for two years, is reported to use both Migum and Tok Pisin and the other
man has only been married for one year and uses Tok Pisin.
Language use data was only collected for three of the four women married into Lamtub. These three are reported to use both Migum and Tok Pisin and two of them are reported to know Migum well. The
children of people married in are reported to use both Migum and Tok Pisin. Singor village with a population of 100 reported that three men and more than thirteen women
have married into the village. All of the men and three of the women came from outside the Rai Coast. The three men and two of the women from outside the Rai Coast speak only Tok Pisin in the village, and
no further information about the other woman was collected. Respondents reported that two of the men and two of the women have been married in for at least
ten years. The five children of one of these speak both Tok Pisin and Migum while the twelve children of the other three speak only Tok Pisin.
Nekgini language In each of the four Nekgini villages, there are five to ten women who have married in from outside the
language area. Of the twelve women whose language ability was reported, seven were reported to know the language well, two to know it moderately well, one to be able to understand it and not speak it and
two to not know it at all.
There are reportedly only two men married into Nekgini from outside the language area. One of these men is living in Sorang and he is from the Rai Coast. He has been married for twenty years, speaks
Nekgini well and has taught all six of his children to speak Nekgini well. The second man, living in Asang village, is from West New Britain. He has only been married one year and is in the process of
learning the language.
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See table 1 for total population figures.
Neko language Of the seven women married into Damoing village, it was reported that one uses Neko in the village, two
use both Neko and Tok Pisin and one uses only Tok Pisin. No data was reported for the other three. Sixteen women have married into Warai. Five of these reportedly use Neko in the village, ten use both
Neko and Tok Pisin, and nothing was reported regarding the language use of the remaining woman. Although data regarding level of proficiency in Neko was not obtained for all the women, three of the
women in the language area were reported to speak Neko well. According to respondents, the children of women married into the language area are able to speak Neko.
Three men have reportedly married women from Neko and then settled into one of the Neko villages. All of these men know some Neko, but none were reported to know the language well.
3.1.11 Population Movement within the Language Variety
