Languages of Papua New Guinea

Orthography as Social Practice: Lessons from Papua New Guinea

Issue Date:
2016
Extent:
pages 37-58
Abstract:
Sebba argues that orthography is a social, not linguistic, construct. In this paper I present four case studies from Papua New Guinea in which communities use orthography to encode the social relationships between dialects as well as between the language community and languages of wider communication. I then consider the question of how to best work with communities to develop an orthography. Drawing on workshops conducted in Papua New Guinea and in Bangladesh, I propose it is possible to develop an orthography based on community practices rather than on a phonological analysis. Rather than beginning with a phonological inventory, community members can directly analyze current or incipient attempts to write the language. Problems with conventions that are developing will become apparent during this process, and the community members can be given tools to solve these problems. By breaking the link between orthography and phonological analysis, the resulting orthography will more closely reflect the social dynamics that are important for wide-spread acceptance of any orthographic system.
Publication Status:
Published
Content Language:
Work Type:
Nature of Work:
Part of Series:
Language and Linguistics in Melanesia 34(1)
Entry Number:
65267