Language endangerment in Vanuatu: Bislama likely does pose a threat in the world’s most language-diverse country

Guy A. Lavender Forsyth ()
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Guy A. Lavender Forsyth: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Palgrave Communications, 2025, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract A quarter of a century has passed since the late Terry Crowley summed up the academic consensus that the creole language Bislama poses no immediate threat to any of Vanuatu’s Indigenous languages. Does this remain true today? Since that time, evidence both quantitative and qualitative has been accumulating that indicates Bislama is indeed gaining ground at the expense of Vanuatu’s Indigenous languages. In a targeted review of this evidence, this article brings together and assesses the insights of linguists, ethnographers, and others on the causal mechanisms that explain an ongoing shift towards Bislama. It thereby provides both a critical analysis of the current state of knowledge and a provisional causal framework for understanding current threats, predicting future threats and, potentially, intervening to prevent future threats. Language endangerment and extinction is a global issue with devastating implications for communities worldwide—one which Vanuatu, the world’s most linguistically diverse country, has thus far remained resilient in the face of. However, this review of the available evidence warns that Bislama will continue to disrupt intergenerational transmission of Indigenous languages unless a suite of inter-related mechanisms can be counteracted.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-05866-w

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