Documentation of the Qatareu language, Lakona Bay, Gaua Island, Vanuatu

Hans Schmidt, University of Hamburg

Project Details:

Individual Postgraduate Fellowship. Duration: 2004-2006. £75,060

Project Summary:

Lakona Bay lies in a remote part of Gaua island in North Vanuatu. Its 300 inhabitants live along the coast and still speak the languages (or dialects) of their original hamlets in the interior. The focus of this project is to document the predominant language, as well as two moribund varieties, Togla (which has one speaker) and Olrat (with four speakers).

Aside from a linguistic description and a trilingual dictionary with glosses in English and the national lingua franca, Bislama, it is intended to collect and distribute traditional stories as reading material to be used in the local primary school or by the villagers.

All these materials plus recordings with translation into English and Bislama will be stored in the Vanuatu Kaljoral Senta and with ELAR.