Economics Opportunity for contact with other languages

4.1.3 Economics

According to Landweer 2006:209, language communities that do not need to use a second language to meet their perceived economic needs typically exhibit higher language vitality than those that are dependent on an economic base outside the language area. The Avau people are subsistence farmers who are able to meet most of their needs from within their own community. They have few sources of income. They mostly obtain cash by selling food to others in the community. There are no companies in the Avau area, although a few men do work at timber companies outside the area and speak Tok Pisin and English there. The limited contact with outsiders caused by economics does not seem to pose a threat to the vitality of the Avau language at this time. Avau people can make money by selling goods to their neighbours or others who visit the area. Their only cash crop is copra, which they dry from coconuts and sell to ships that occasionally come to buy it. People in Lulakevi also reported selling sea cucumbers to Asian merchants. In all villages people reportedly sell goods such as greens, sweet potatoes, fish, pigs, coconuts and betelnut to others in their village. People from Akam and Aringring travel to the twice-weekly market at Gasmata to sell the same kind of items there. People in Akiwak have some contact with a timber company located west of Gasmata, PNG Timber, located in the Akolet language area. Two men from Akiwak work there and use Tok Pisin to speak with their coworkers from other language areas. Respondents in Akam mentioned that they have some contact with the timber company Sare Sources, which operates out of Kalagen, also in the Akolet language area. One Akam man works there and speaks Avau with those who understand and Tok Pisin with those who do not. People in Aringring mentioned that they have contact with another timber company Asengseng Timber, located at Au in the Akolet language area. Six men from Aringring work there and are reported to speak Tok Pisin with their coworkers and English with their supervisors who do not know Tok Pisin. Respondents in Lulakevi and Asiwot reported that they do not have contact with any companies.

4.1.4 Contact through institutions