Special issue articles
A restudy of postcolonial Palau after two decades
Changing views on multilingualism in the Pacific
This paper reports results from a reinvestigation of multilingualism in postcolonial Palau, conducted twenty years after the first study. The
first-ever ethnographic language survey conducted in 1997–1998 highlighted the diglossic nature of Palau where English replaced
Japanese as the ‘high’ language, while indigenous Palauan remained as the ‘low’ spoken language. It indicated three possible future scenarios: (a) shift from multilingualism to bilingualism after the older Japanese-speaking generation passes
away; (b) stability of diglossia with a clear social division between an English-speaking elite and a predominantly
Palauan-speaking non-elite; (c) movement towards an English-speaking nation with Palauan being abandoned. The restudy conducted in
2017–2018 provides real-time evidence to assess the direction and progress of change, whilst the ethnographic analysis of recent
changes in language policies and the linguistic analysis of teenagers’ narratives reveal the unpopularity of Palauan as a written
language and the emergence of their own variety of English.
Article outline
- Introduction
- Sociohistorical background to Palau until its independence
- Data and methodology
- The 1997–1998 survey
- The 2017–2018 survey
- Changes in national and family language policies in Palau
- The emergence of Palauan English?
- Diglossia revisited
- Apparent-time and real-time surveys
- Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
-
References
References (48)
References
Alegado, D. & Finin, G. (2000). Exporting people: The Philippines and contract labor in Palau. Contemporary Pacific 121: 359–370. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bailey, G. (2002). Real and Apparent time. In J. K. Chambers, P. Trudgill & N. Schilling-Estes (Eds.), Handbook of Language Variation and Change (pp. 312–332). Oxford: Blackwell.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bailey, G., Wikle, T., Tillery, J., & Sand, L. (1991). The apparent time construct. Language Variation and Change, 3(3), 241–264. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Blake, R., & Josey, M. (2003). The /ay/ diphthong in a Martha’s Vineyard community: What can we say 40 years after Labov? Language in Society 32(4): 451–485. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Britain, D. & Matsumoto, K. (2015). Palauan English. In J. P. Williams, E. W. Schneider, P. Trudgill & D. Schreier (Eds.), Further Studies in the Lesser-Known Varieties of English (Studies in English Language) (pp. 305–343). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Crocombe, R. (2007). Asia in the Pacific Islands: Replacing the West. Suva: USP Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Eckert, P. (1980). Diglossia: Separate and unequal. Linguistics 181: 1053–1064. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Eckert, P. (2000). Linguistic Variation as Social Practice. Oxford: Blackwell.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fasold, R. (1991). The Sociolinguistics of Language: Introduction to Sociolinguistics Volume II. Oxford: Blackwell.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ferguson, C. (1959). Diglossia. Word 15(2): 325–340. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fishman, J. A. (2000). The status agenda in corpus planning. In R. D. Lambert & E. Shohamy (Eds.), Language Policy and Pedagogy: Essays in Honor of A. Ronald Walton (pp. 43–51). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gordan, E. & Maclagan, M. (2001). ‘Capturing a sound change’: A real time study over 15 years of the near/square diphthong merger in New Zealand English. Australian Journal of Linguistics 21(2): 215–238. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Holmes, J. (2013). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics (4th ed.). London: Routledge. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
The Japan Foundation. (2017). Survey Report on Japanese-Language Education Abroad 2015. Tokyo: Author.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Josephs, L. S. (1990). New Palauan-English Dictionary. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Labov, W. (1963). The social motivation of a sound change. Word 191: 273–309. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Li, W. (1994). Three Generations, Two Languages, One Family. Clevendon: Multilingual Matters.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Matsumoto, K. (2001). Multilingualism in Palau: Language contact with Japanese and English. In E. M. Thomas (Ed.), Language Change in East Asia (pp. 84–142). London: Curzon Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Matsumoto, K. (2010). The role of social networks in the postcolonial multilingual island of Palau: Mechanisms of language maintenance and shift. Multilingua 29(2): 133–165. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Matsumoto, K. (2013). Cake baking in a postcolonial Japanese speech community: Koineisation of Palauan Japanese in the Pacific. Language, Information, Text 201: 63–85.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Matsumoto, K. (2016). The role of domain and face-to-face contact in borrowing: The case from the postcolonial multilingual island of Palau. In D. Schmidt-Brücken, S. Schuster & M. Wienberg (Eds.), Aspects of Postcolonial Linguistics (Colonial and Postcolonial Linguistics 9) (pp. 129–151). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Matsumoto, K. (2020). Nativisation in adolescent Palauan English: A discourse- pragmatic perspective. In Y. Asahi (Ed.), Proceedings of Methods XVI: Papers from the Sixteenth International Conference on Methods in Dialectology, 2017. (Bamberg Studies in English Linguistics 59) (pp. 75-82). Frankfurt: Peter Lang.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Matsumoto, K. & Britain, D. (2003a). Contact and obsolescence in a diaspora variety of Japanese: The case of Palau in Micronesia. Essex Research Reports in Linguistics 441: 38–75.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Matsumoto, K. & Britain, D. (2003b). Investigating the sociolinguistic gender paradox in a multilingual community: A case study from the Republic of Palau. International Journal of Bilingualism 7(2): 127–152. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Matsumoto, K. & Britain, D. (2006). Palau: Language situation. In K. Brown (Ed.), Encyclopaedia of Language and Linguistics, Vol. 91 (2nd ed.) (pp. 129–130). Amsterdam: Elsevier. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Matsumoto, K. & Britain, D. (2019). Pancakes stuffed with sweet bean paste: Food-related lexical borrowings as indicators of the intensity of language contact in the Pacific. In S. Guzzo & G. Balirano (Eds.), Food and Diasporic Communities of Practices (pp. 127–166). London: Palgrave Macmillan.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nan’yō-chō [South Seas Bureau]. (1925, 1927a, 1927b, 1929, 1930a, 1930b). Nan’yō Guntō Gensei Yōran [Annual Report on Micronesia]. Tokyo: Author.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nan’yō-chō [South Seas Bureau]. (1932a, 1933a, 1934a, 1935, 1936, 1937a, 1938, 1939, 1941a, 1942). Nan’yō Guntō Yōran [Annual Report on Micronesia]. Tokyo: Author.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nan’yō-chō [South Seas Bureau]. (1932b). Shōwa 5nen Nan’yo Guntō Tōsei Chōsa Sho, Vol. 2 & 31 [Investigation on Micronesia in 1930, Vol. 2 & 3]. Tokyo: Author.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nan’yō-chō [South Seas Bureau]. (1934b). Nan’yō-chō Tōkei Nenkan [Annual Statistic Report on Micronesia]. Tokyo: Author.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nan’yō-chō [South Seas Bureau]. (1937b). Shōwa 10nen Nan’yo Guntō Tōsei Chōsa Sho, Vol. 1 [Investigation on Micronesia in 1935, Vol. 1]. Tokyo: Author.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Office of Planning and Statistics (2005). The 2005 Census of Population and Housing of the Republic of Palau, Vol. 11. Koror: Bureau of Budget and Planning.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Office of Planning and Statistics (2015). The 2015 Census of Population, Housing and Agriculture for the Republic of Palau, Vol. 11. Koror: Bureau of Budget and Planning.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Palau Language Commission (2012). Palauan Orthography and Palauan Grammar Usage. Koror: Author.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Palau Ministry of Education (2015). Ke Bai Dulii El Tekoi Er a Belau. Koror: Author.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Peattie, M. (1988). Nan’yō: The Rise and Fall of the Japanese in Micronesia 1885–1945. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pope, J., Meyerhoff, M. & Ladd, D. R. (2007). Forty years of language change on Martha’s Vineyard. Language 83(3): 615–627. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Remengesau, Ekei-Lalii. (2017). Preserving Palauan Language through Language Policy: The Policies of the Palau Language Commission. MA thesis, Waseda University, Tokyo.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rinji Nan’yō Guntō Bōbitai [Provisional South Seas Defense Corps] (1922). Nan’yo Guntō Tōsei Chōsa Hōkoku [Investigation Report on Micronesia]. Tokyo: Author.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Roberts, J. (2013). Child language variation. In J. K. Chambers & N. Schilling (Eds.), The Handbook of Language Variation and Change (2nd ed.) (pp. 263–276). Oxford: John Wiley & Sons. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sankoff, G. (2006). Age: Apparent time and real time. In K. Brown (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, Vol. 11 (2nd ed.) (pp. 110–116). Amsterdam: Elsevier. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sankoff, G. & Blondeau, H. (2007). Language change across the lifespan: /r/ in Montreal French. Language 83(3): 560–588. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schneider, E. (2007). Postcolonial Englishes: Varieties around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
The State of Angaur (1982). Constitution of the State of Angaur. Retrieved 11 April 2019 from Pacific Digital Library: [URL]
Tagliamonte, S. A. (2016). Teen Talk: The Language of Adolescents. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tillery, J. & Bailey, G. (2003). Approaches to real time in dialectology and sociolinguistics. World Englishes 22(4): 351–365. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wanger, S. E. & Buchstaller, I. (Eds.) (2018). Panel Studies of Variation and Change. London: Routledge.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (3)
Cited by three other publications
Matsumoto, Kazuko & David Britain
2022.
The vernacularity of Palauan Japanese.
International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2022:273
► pp. 103 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Matsumoto, Kazuko & David Britain
2022.
Diaspora Japanese: transnational mobility and language contact.
International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2022:273
► pp. 1 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Matsumoto, Kazuko & Naomi Tokumasu
2022.
The maintenance of Japanese as a heritage language in Mexico: evidence from Japanese pre-war migrants and newcomers.
International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2022:273
► pp. 81 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.