Observed language use Perceived language vitality

7.2 Observed language use

In Ebea, mostly Biage was overheard. A group of children aged five to ten were using Biage while playing rugby. In Savaea children aged six to ten were heard using Biage with each other. In Pelai only Biage was heard. It took people a long time to find a young girl who could speak Tok Pisin who could go with the female surveyors to wash. There were quite a number of children in the village at this point. Children were heard using both Tok Pisin and Biage. One boy, aged around ten, used Biage to talk to younger children. He was also heard using Tok Pisin to talk about dogs fighting. Women and children looking at a photo on a digital camera were using Biage except for two Tok Pisin statements. A group of five children and young people, aged between five and fifteen were heard using Tok Pisin. A man, who is from Kanga and whose wife is from Kanga, was heard using both Tok Pisin and Biage to his child, about seven years old. A conversation between two girls, one pre-teen and one in her mid-teens, was mainly in Biage but a couple of Tok Pisin phrases were also heard. A group of children, aged under ten, were heard using Biage. The survey team was unable to observe very much language use in Isurava and Kovelo due to a lack of people in the village at the time of the survey.

7.3 Perceived language vitality

When people were asked if their language was strong or not, everyone responded that it was strong. Opinions on what the future holds for Biage varied. People in Pelai and Isurava said their language would stay strong. People in Ebea and Kanga felt that intermarriage posed a danger for their language. People in Kovelo said that it would depend on whether their children had more schooling or not; they felt if their children had more schooling then their language would lose its vitality. No one would be happy if their language was lost. In Kanga people said if they lost their language they would lose their identity. When asked what languages children would be speaking in twenty years time, people all listed Biage alongside either or both Tok Pisin and English. When asked if children in twenty years time would be speaking Biage or not, everywhere but Ebea said yes.

7.4 Bilingualism