Rare words preserved
Efforts to save PNG’s Ende language
Californian, Kate Lindsey, 29, recently returned to the high-tech comforts of Silicon Valley after living eight months in a Papua New Guinean village without electricity, plumbing, hospitals, or even currency.
The linguistics student from Stanford University was recruited by the people of Limol, Western Province, to record their traditional stories and help preserve Ende (pronounced EN-day) – a language spoken by only about 800 people in a remote southern area of PNG.
The community first reached out to Nicholas Evans, a language researcher from the Australian National University, who was working in PNG.
“A party of three men from Limol walked three days to reach Nicholas and ask for help,” says Lindsey. “He passed the request on to me and I was invited to live in the village.”
While English is taught in Limol’s two schools, the community was anxious to preserve Ende for future generations with children’s books, a dictionary and a documentary.
“PNG is a linguistic treasure trove,” says Lindsey. “It’s home to about 850 spoken languages – that’s 12 per cent of the world’s total, concentrated in a small area.”
Small and isolated, Limol is reached by a flight to Daru, two days’ travel by boat and canoe, then a bush hike from the river to the village of 200 residents. Lindsey and her various assistants made the trip five times.
“After coming from California, the first night we arrived was magical,” she says. “Children lit fires by the side of the path so we could see the way and we were greeted by the whole village, complete with a big bowl of sweet potato.”
During the Fly River section of the trip, Lindsey learned enough Ende from a local to make a thank you speech when she was greeted in