Dissertation Title
The Acquisition of Kosraean and English: A Diglossic Community at Crossroads
Chair: Kamil Deen
(Proposal Defended: November 2021)
Dissertation Abstract: My dissertation investigates the child language acquisition of Kosraean (ISO 639-3 kos) and English on the island of Kosrae of the Federated States of Micronesia. Language endangerment is a major concern for humanity, with indigenous languages more likely to be vulnerable when they are a minority to a highly prestigious majority language like English. The factors that lead a community shifting from their native tongues to a nonnative language are complex, stemming from societal, political, and economic pressures. The loss of such languages results in the loss of history, social cohesion, and cultural values, and so the study of language loss and language revitalization has ethical implications at both a global and local level. A leading indicator of the (impending) loss of a language is whether children are acquiring that language, therefore the goal of this dissertation is to assess intergenerational transmission in each language, since both have official status on Kosrae. I hope the findings of this study will have real world implications by supporting the Kosraean community, minority language communities in general, the linguistic community, and the relationship between the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and broader Pacific communities.