ABSTRACT
I have demonstrated in some detail that the linguistic ecology of the Pacific area has always been subject to deliberate acts of human interference. These range from traditional efforts to create esoteric and special languages and attempts by missionaries to create a suitable mission medium to more recent campaigns for literacy and language education. The term ‘natural language’ in referring to languages such as Kâte, Indonesian or Chamorro is therefore a totally unsuitable label, suggesting a spurious division between linguistic objects and human users, observers and planners.
