Most immigrant parents report that their children are not able to use the Awar language with anyone else, including other children, middle aged men and women, and older men and women. In
Nubia only three immigrants reported that their children were able to speak Awar at all, only two in Sisimagum, and eight in Awar. Children of immigrants are not likely to use Awar. They are a significant
percentage of the population, making their language use impactful to the larger community.
When it comes to stated opinions, all three communities reported that it is not good that immigrants do not learn their language. Though this is the stated opinion, it does not change the fact that
immigrants are not learning their language and, more importantly from a language vitality perspective, that their children are not. The people of Nubia took the blame for this situation on themselves, saying,
“It is our mistake that we do not teach them immigrants our language.”
16
3.1.4 Contact with urban centers
All three communities reported a high frequency of travel into Madang. The villages are situated on the main road in the area and it is costs K20
17
for a trip into town on a locally owned public motor vehicle PMV. Most PMVs leave the area late at night and arrive at Madang in the morning giving the people
time to shop and sell their goods before the PMV heads back out to the Awar area in the late afternoon. People reported going to Madang between four and ten times annually. They sell their goods
cocoa, fish, sago, and beetle-nut and they buy town goods rice, clothing, school supplies. They also reported that everyone men, women, and children in the community goes to Madang. While in Madang
they report using Tok Pisin exclusively even with other people from Awar. This contact with Madang is having a negative effect on the vitality of the language because it is exposing every generation to another
domain dominated by Tok Pisin.
3.1.5 Economic factors
As stated above section 1.4 there used to be a plantation operated by the Roman Catholic Church in Nubia. When it was operational the people reported that people from Awar did not use the local
language while working because so many people came in from the outside to work the plantation. For this reason the plantation impacted language vitality negatively. Since the plantation is now vacant, that
effect no longer bears upon Awar.
However, people still make a living by selling their produce and products in Madang. When they do this they use Tok Pisin exclusively. This means that it is perceived that there is no real way for people to
become economically successful using only Awar.
3.1.6 Conclusion
The Awar language community scores a 7 shifting on the EGIDS scale. In Nubia and Sisimagum there are probably no more than a dozen children that are able to understand or speak Awar. In Awar village,
the number is slightly increased. The current parent generation only use Awar sparingly. My observations confirmed this reported language use. Only when a member of the grandparent generation
initiated a conversation in Awar did anyone younger actually use the language, so I question how well the parent generation actually knows Awar, and subsequently, the depth of their children’s knowledge.
Although they report a positive attitude regarding their language, it has not translated into the action of teaching it to outsiders or their children. Though there is some limited use of Awar in church, no schools
in the area use Awar.
16
“Em i asua long mipela no lainim ol long tok ples.”
17
This is about US8.20 at the current exchange rate of PGK 1=USD 0.41 XE.com 2014.
Again, although the Awar people report an opinion that immigrants should learn their language, it has not translated into the action of teaching immigrants. For this reason most immigrant children do
not use Awar in any way. The Awar in all three villages recognize that their language is in an endangered position. Most of
them speak only of trying to record their language so it is not lost entirely. Only a few spoke of trying to revitalize it. Unless something drastic changes, the Awar language will likely not be spoken regularly in
the next 10 years and could be completely lost in the next two generations.
3.2 Kayan
