Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

, a sovereign state in

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...

, is the most linguistically diverse country in the world. According to

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensiv ...

, there are 839 living languages spoken in the country. In 2006, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare stated that "Papua New Guinea has 832 living languages (languages, not dialects)." Languages with statutory recognition are

Tok Pisin Tok Pisin (,Laurie Bauer, 2007, ''The Linguistics Student’s Handbook'', Edinburgh ; Tok Pisin ), often referred to by English speakers as "New Guinea Pidgin" or simply Pidgin, is a creole language spoken throughout Papua New Guinea. It is an ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of Motu, from the Austronesian l ...

, and

Papua New Guinean Sign Language Papua New Guinean Sign Language (PNGSL) is a sign language originating from Papua New Guinea. The standardised form of PNGSL was made an official language of Papua New Guinea in 2015. The language has been called "Melanesian Sign Language". Howe ...

.There is no specific legislation proclaiming official languages in Papua New Guinea. In the constitution of Papua New Guinea, section 2(11) (literacy) of its preamble mentions '...all persons and governmental bodies to endeavour to achieve universal literacy in Pisin, Hiri Motu or English' as well as "tok ples" and "ita eda tano gado". In addition, section 67 (2)(c) mentions "speak and understand Pisin or Hiri Motu, or a vernacular of the country, sufficiently for normal conversational purposes" as a requirement for citizenship by nationalisation; this is again mentioned in section 68(2)(h). Tok Pisin, an English-based creole, is the most widely spoken, serving as the country's

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...

became the fourth officially recognised language in May 2015, and is used by the

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an Audiology, audiological condition. In this context it ...

population throughout the country.

Languages

English

Doini Island Papua New Guinea Oceania Airport Sign

is an official language of Papua New Guinea and is used by the government, courts, and the education system. In the 2011 census, 48.9% of the population was literate in English.

German

From 1884 to 1914, the northern half of the present-day country was a German colony known as

German New Guinea German New Guinea (german: Deutsch-Neu-Guinea) consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups and was the first part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , ...

, in which German was the official language. Tok Pisin derives some vocabulary from German as a result of this influence. Today however, German is not a generally spoken language in Papua New Guinea.

Unserdeutsch

Unserdeutsch, or Rabaul Creole German, is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

-based

creole language A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable natural language that develops from the simplifying and mixing of different languages into a new one within a fairly brief period of time: often, a pidgin evolved into a full-fledged language. ...

spoken mainly in

East New Britain Province East New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea, consisting of the north-eastern part of the island of New Britain and the Duke of York Islands. The capital of the province is Kokopo, not far from the old capital of Rabaul, which was largely d ...

. It is the only creole language that has developed from colonial German. The lexicon is derived from German, while the substrate language is Tok Pisin.

Tok Pisin

Tok Pisin is an

-based

spoken throughout Papua New Guinea. It is an official language of Papua New Guinea and the most widely used language in the country. In parts of

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

Gulf A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodies ...

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

Oro Oro or ORO, meaning gold in Spanish and Italian, may refer to: Music and dance * Oro (dance), a Balkan circle dance * Oro (eagle dance), an eagle dance from Montenegro and Herzegovina * "Oro" (song), the Serbian entry in the 2008 Eurovision S ...

and Milne Bay provinces, however, the use of Tok Pisin has a shorter history, and is less universal especially among older people. In the 2011 census, 57.4% of the population were literate in Tok Pisin.

Hiri Motu

Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a simplified version of the

Motu language Motu (sometimes called Pure Motu or True Motu to distinguish it from Hiri Motu) is a Central Papuan Tip languages, Central Papuan Tip language that is spoken by the Motuan people, Motuans, an indigenous ethnic group of Papua New Guinea. It is com ...

of the Austronesian language family. In the 2011 census, 4.7% of the population were literate in Hiri Motu.

Papuan languages

Outside Papua New Guinea, Papuan languages that are also spoken include the languages of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

, and the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

. Below is a full list of Papuan language families spoken in Papua New Guinea, following Palmer, et al. (2018): # Trans-New Guinea ##

Madang Madang (old German name: ''Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen'') is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 (in 2005) on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germans in the 19th century. Histor ...

## Finisterre-Huon ## Kainantu-Goroka ## Chimbu-Wahgi ## Enga-Kewa-Huli ## Bosavi ## East Strickland ##

Kutubu Lake Kutubu is the second-largest lake in Papua New Guinea,Lake Kutubu
at Ramsar site after Duna-Bogaya ##'' Wiru'' ## Ok-Oksapmin (also in Indonesia) ##

Anim Anim or ANIM may refer to: Places *A city in the mountains of Judah, now el-Ghuwein, near Eshtemoh, about 10 miles south-west of Hebron *An alternative spelling for the biblical city of Anem, now Jenin * Anim synagogue, a synagogue in Israel ...

(also in Indonesia) ## Gogodala-Suki ## Turama-Kikori ## Kiwaian ## Awin-Pa ## Angan ## Greater Binanderean ## Dagan ## Mailuan ## Koiarian ## Goilalan ## Yareban ## Kwalean ## Manubaran # Torricelli #

Sepik The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the second largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provinces of Sandaun (formerly West Se ...

Lower Sepik-Ramu Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated about five miles south west of Dursley, eig ...

Border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

(also in Indonesia) # Sko (also in Indonesia) # Eastern Pauwasi (also in Indonesia) # Senagi ( Angor-

Dera Dera, Dero, Daro, Dhoro, Dahar or Dehra is a word in several languages of South Asia, whose meaning is ' camp', 'mound' or 'settlement'. It appears in the names of a number of places. Geography India * Dera, Himachal Pradesh * Dera Bassi, Moha ...

) (also in Indonesia) # Kwomtari # Leonhard Schultze ( Walio- Papi) # Upper Yuat ( Arafundi- Piawi) # Yuat # Left May # Amto-Musan #'' Busa'' #'' Taiap'' #'' Yadë'' # Yam (also in Indonesia) #

Pahoturi River The Pahoturi, or Paho River, is a river in southwestern Papua New Guinea. Pahoturi Riverin Geonames.org (cc-by) post updated 2011-07-09; database downloaded 2015-06-22 See also *List of rivers of Papua New Guinea *Pahoturi languages The Pahotu ...

# Eleman # Oriomo # Teberan # Doso-Turumsa #'' Dibiyaso'' #'' Kaki Ae'' #''

Kamula Kamula (Kamira, Wawoi) is a Trans–New Guinea language that is unclassified within that family in the classification of Malcolm Ross (2005). Noting insufficient evidence, Pawley and Hammarström (2018) leave it as unclassified. Demographics ...

'' #''

Karami Karami (Arabic كرامي) is an Arabic-based Lebanese surname, particularly that of a famous Lebanese Sunni Muslim political family. It is often francicised in the media as Karamé. It is to be differentiated from the Classical Arabic term Karam ...

'' #'' Pawaia'' #'' Porome'' #'' Purari'' #'' Tabo'' # Baining # North Bougainville # South Bougainville # Butam-Taulil #'' Anêm'' #'' Ata'' #'' Kol'' #'' Kuot'' #'' Makolkol'' #'' Sulka'' #'' Yélî Dnye''

Austronesian languages

People speaking languages belonging to the Austronesian family arrived in New Guinea approximately 3,500 years ago. Austronesian languages spoken in Papua New Guinea include

Meso-Melanesian languages The Meso-Melanesian languages are a linkage of Oceanic languages spoken in the large Melanesian islands of New Ireland and the Solomon Islands east of New Guinea. Bali is one of the most conservative languages. Composition The languages group ...

(such as Nalik, spoken in

New Ireland Province New Ireland Province, formerly New Mecklenburg (german: Neu-Mecklenburg), and Nova Hibernia, is the northeasternmost province of Papua New Guinea. Physical geography The largest island of the province is New Ireland. Also part of the province a ...

;

Kuanua The Tolai language, or Kuanua, is spoken by the Tolai people of Papua New Guinea, who live on the Gazelle Peninsula in East New Britain Province. Nomenclature This language is often referred to in the literature as ''Tolai''. However, Tolai is ...

, spoken in

; and Nakanai spoken in

West New Britain Province West New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea on the islands of New Britain. The provincial capital is Kimbe. The area of the province is 20,387 km² with a population of 264,264 as of the 2011 census. The province's only land border is w ...

). The Austronesian languages are widely spread across the globe, as far west as Malagasy in

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

, as far east as

Rapa Nui Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearly ...

Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearl ...

, and as far as north as the

Formosan languages The Formosan languages are a geographic grouping comprising the languages of the indigenous peoples of Taiwan, all of which are Austronesian. They do not form a single subfamily of Austronesian but rather nine separate subfamilies. The Taiwa ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. Austronesian has several primary branches, all but one of which are found exclusively on Taiwan.

Papua New Guinean Sign Language

PNGSL is an official language of Papua New Guinea; it is based on

Auslan Auslan () is the majority sign language of the Australian Deaf community. The term ''Auslan'' is a portmanteau of "Australian Sign Language", coined by Trevor Johnston in the 1980s, although the language itself is much older. Auslan is relat ...

and various

home sign Home sign (or kitchen sign) is a gestural communication system, often invented spontaneously by a deaf child who lacks accessible linguistic input. Home sign systems often arise in families where a deaf child is raised by hearing parents and is iso ...

forms.

Literacy

In 2011, 67.6% of the population of Papua New Guinea over 10 years of age were

literate Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, hum ...

References

External links

Language distribution maps for individual PNG provinces
(SIL International in Papua New Guinea) {{Papuan languages