to the vitality of the Bosmun language since the teacher was creating and using his own materials in Bosmun. He will no longer be using them.
3.4.3 Language use of immigrants
Table 8 shows the immigrants currently living in the Bosmun communities. Like the Marangis the immigrant population in these communities is actually quite low compared to that of other communities
in the area, specifically Awar and Kayan see sections 3.1.3 and 3.2.3, respectively.
Table 8. Immigrants in Bosmun
Village Name
Estimated 2013
population Number of
Immigrants Percentage of
population
Daiden 191
7 3.7
Nemnem 371
9 2.4
Dogan 546
24 4.4
Wamtac 229
10 4.4
Goingbang 2 431
28 6.5
29
Total 1768
78 4.4
Since the immigrant population is so small, their language use and that of their children should have a minimal impact on the overall sociolinguistic situation. However, some insight can be gleaned
from their usage. Of all the immigrants in the community, only those whose children had grown and had families of their own knew and used the Bosmun language. They reported that four children were able to
mix Bosmun with Tok Pisin, while another 17 could understand Bosmun when spoken to them, but couldn’t respond. There are eight families where the children are fluent in Bosmun. In all eight families
the immigrant came from Mbore. I didn’t notice the pattern until Goingbang 2 where I asked an immigrant mother from Mbore about it. She said, “We are Mbore. Mbore know the vernacular of the
area.”
30
This is just an exception produced by the view of the Mbore toward language. The majority of immigrant children do not know Bosmun at all.
All five communities did not seem concerned that immigrants learn their language. The people of Daiden felt that some would learn eventually. In Nemnem they felt that after a while they would be able
to understand Bosmun when it is spoken to them. This was reflected in the speaking patterns of the immigrants themselves. Most are not able to use or understand Bosmun at all, while a few can
understand when it is spoken. In Daiden, only two immigrants are considered fluent in Bosmun, and another nine are able to understand it when spoken. The rest use Tok Pisin exclusively.
3.4.4 Contact with urban centers
Madang is easily accessible by all the Bosmun communities. The people of Goingbang 2 can go by PMV straight from their village. The other villages must first go by river to Base Camp and then catch a PMV.
The cost is K25 from Base Camp to Madang.
31
All the communities report that everyone goes into town somewhere between four and ten times in a year. They go to buy town goods and sell their produce.
While in town they use Tok Pisin most of the time, though they will occasionally use Bosmun with other speakers if they are able.
29
The larger immigrant population in Goingbang 2 is probably a result of road access.
30
“Mipela Mbore. Ol Mbore save long tok ples bilong graun.”
31
About US10.25 see footnote 17.
The ease of access to Madang coupled with the use of Tok Pisin while there, has a negative effect on the vitality of Bosmun.
3.4.5 Economic factors
There are no outside companies working in the Bosmun area, though there are local cocoa projects, one in Wamtac and one in Dogan. In Wamtac everyone is involved in some way in the project, while in
Dogan only a few are still working there. The people of Wamtac report occasionally using Bosmun while they work but the Dogan say they only use Tok Pisin.
The vast majority of Bosmun speakers do not work in a place where they must use another language. However, there is little opportunity for economic advancement found in the Bosmun area
outside of the cocoa projects. Without more economic prospects in the area, more and more people will likely go outside the language area where they do exist.
3.4.6 Conclusion
Bosmun is the most complex situation among the four target language groups. It sits directly between the situation found in Awar and those found in Kayan and Marangis. Bosmun is quickly on its way to
language loss, but it is not there yet. For this reason it is at a 6b threatened on the EGIDS scale see table 4.
Currently only a few children actively use the Bosmun language. This is probably because parents seem to use more and more Tok Pisin with their children in the home. In fact, Bosmun is losing ground
to Tok Pisin in every domain and age group in the Bosmun communities. Though the Bosmun express a desire for their language to be strong, this attitude has not been manifested by use in church, use in
schools, or in the action of teaching outsiders their language.
Most immigrants do not learn or use the language and so their children do not either. The communities seem more lax than Kayan and the Marangis communities regarding immigrants—not
requiring them to learn Bosmun. A general physical closeness to Madang and lack of economic opportunity in the area add to an
already weak situation for the Bosmun language. It is unlikely that Bosmun will fall into a sustainable situation as the second language of the Bosmun people. Those who said this was going to happen rely on
the elementary schools to teach the children Bosmun. Though the schools in the area did seem to actually use and teach Bosmun to the children, the perceived change in the PNG government’s education
policy seems to undo that positive force. All the teachers reported that they will or already have switched to Tok Pisin and English exclusively in the schools as a result.
Unless parents begin to teach their children Bosmun, the language seems on the verge of full shift. If nothing changes in the current situation, the language will probably shift in three to four generations. It
could hold on longer if children who can only understand the language, do learn to speak it in some capacity and pass in on to their children. There is likely to be a lot of language loss in that kind of
situation, and the Bosmun already report that many people do not know the words for trees in the bush and other specifics.
4 Goal 2: Assess the willingness of the target group to work with the other potential language groups in the LRIG project
The ability of the target groups to cooperate with each other and the Mbore is essential for the Lower Ramu Initial Goals Project to be successful as it is currently devised. If the groups cannot work together
or with the Mbore, the LRIG project will not be able to move forward. To assess this I looked at three areas: current cooperation between the villages, expressed
willingness to work together, and past disputes.
4.1 Current cooperation
