ABSTRACT
One can look at views about the inherent value of languages and their being worthy of protection from two perspectives. First, there have been considerable changes in the absolute number of languages thought worthy of protection (and indeed scholarly linguistic study), i.e. to the classical languages Hebrew, Latin and Greek were added over time European national languages, dialects of European languages, traditional indigenous languages, and Pidgins and Creoles. What has not changed is the perceived hierarchy of languages. Whilst much time and money continues to be spent on classical and nation state languages and in particular world languages, resources benefiting other languages are unimpressive. Whilst on paper all languages might have the same rights, in real life, a few are very privileged and most are underprivileged and in danger of dying out. What has contributed to an enhanced status of certain languages is their perceived purity-conversely languages whose impure, mixed or incomplete character was common knowledge continued to be excluded from the rights that are afforded to ‘normal languages’. Among this group we find Pidgins, Creoles, immigrant mixed ‘jargons’ such as Cocoliche in Argentina, and similar non ‘standard’ forms of powerful language such as English. Whilst a great number of English-related languages are spoken in the Pacific region for instance, only very few have a proper name (e.g. Bislama and Tok Pisin but not informal English of Milne Bay, Bass Strait English or Palmerston Island English) and even fewer have any formal recognition. The principal aim of this paper is to highlight a few aspects of the history of the language of Norfolk Island and its socio-political status.
