Current Issues In Language Planning
Polity Editors: Robert B. Kaplan (University of Southern California), Richard B. Baldauf Jr. (University of Queensland) and Nkonko Kamwangamalu (Howard University)Bob and Dick are also editors of the book series Language Policy and Planning
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Volume: 1 Number: 3 Page: 368–388
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The Consequences of Vernacular (II)literacy in the Pacific
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Terry Crowley
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Recent arguments have suggested that literacy in the Pacific does not give added status to vernaculars and that it should be discouraged because it is not part of traditional cultures, thereby inevitably
weakening these languages, leading ultimately to the replacement of a huge number of languages by colonial languages. This discussion disputes this interpretation, arguing that as these cultures have changed
since colonial contact, literacy has been fully incorporated into many local cultures. Any attempt to discourage vernacular literacy represents an attempt to turn back the clock to a romantic but no longer
existent past, and possibly even serves to weaken languages.
© Multilingual Matters 2000
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