Language
Pentecost Island has five indigenous languages, all from the East Vanuatu language family: Raga (North Pentecost language), Apma (Central Pentecost language), Sowa (a recently-extinct language of south-central Pentecost), Ske (a small and endangered language of south-western Pentecost), and Sa (South Pentecost language). Apma and Sa have multiple dialects.
In addition, most people on Pentecost speak Bislama, the form of pidgin English that is Vanuatu's national language, and the island's native languages are becoming increasingly mixed with Bislama words and expressions. Educated islanders also know English or French, which are taught in schools.
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Famous quotes containing the word language:
“Different persons growing up in the same language are like different bushes trimmed and trained to take the shape of identical elephants. The anatomical details of twigs and branches will fulfill the elephantine form differently from bush to bush, but the overall outward results are alike.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)
“From a hasty glance through the various tests I figure it out that I would be classified in Group B, indicating “Low Average Ability,” reserved usually for those just learning to speak the English Language and preparing for a career of holding a spike while another man hits it.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“The “sayings” of a community, its proverbs, are its characteristic comment upon life; they imply its history, suggest its attitude toward the world and its way of accepting life. Such an idiom makes the finest language any writer can have; and he can never get it with a notebook. He himself must be able to think and feel in that speech—it is a gift from heart to heart.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)