This paper presents quantitative survey results from a 300+ person (~1.3% of the adult population) language attitudes study on Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia conducted over two months during 2016 and 2017. The study uses a new combination of quantitative techniques including data imputation, poststratification, and Bayesian hierarchical regression modeling, combined with more traditional methods of correspondence analysis and hierarchical clustering to describe a snapshot of the complexity of language attitude discourses on Pohnpei. Unlike many quantitative language attitudes studies, this study adheres to a poststructuralist, social constructionist framework of language attitudes and is heavily influenced by Hauʻofa (1994) and other Oceanic Indigenous scholars.
Pohnpei is home to speakers of dozens of languages, many of whom are multilingual. The results of the study present some of the many ways in which residents of Pohnpei construct and navigate through two big-D Discourses – being Pohnpeian/local and being Micronesian/global – by using the many linguistic resources available to them. This snapshot of the language attitudes demonstrates the rich heteroglossic (Bahktin 1981) language practices on the island and in particular provides an analysis that examines its many voices based on a variety of demographic and spatial variables. Questions addressed include domain-specific language importance and self-reported language use practices, who should or should not speak certain languages on Pohnpei, what the languages on Pohnpei are or are not good for, perceptions of who does or does not use specific languages, general views about certain languages, views on bilingualism, and perceived characteristics of those who speak Pohnpeian. The results of the survey overall present a range of different stories about the language attitudes on Pohnpei and some of the many ways to be Pohnpeian and Micronesian.
References
Bakhtin, Mikhail M. 1981. The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Hauʻofa, Epeli. 1994. Our Sea of Islands. The Contemporary Pacific. 6(1). 147–161. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/12960.
