The need for a Pacific languages archive

Andrew Pawley

Why do we need an archive of sound recordings of the languages (and music, oral literature, etc.) of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Islands? The short answer is simple: To preserve for posterity as rich as possible a record of the languages and cultures which existed in this region at the times such recordings were first made, in the mid-20th century and which, to a large extent still exist. The Pacific Islands contains some 1300 languages, almost a quarter of the world’s total, and perhaps as many different societies with their own distinctive oral and musical traditions. The forces of ‘modernisation’ are inexorably transforming traditional ways of life and many languages, oral literatures and other kinds of traditional knowledge are being lost or reduced.

The paper will consider a number of more specific questions, such as: Who are the intended users of the archive? What sorts and quantities of materials already exist, needing to be archived? And how is the existence of such an archive likely to shape or influence the research agenda and methods of fieldworkers in the future?