“To Let Die”

Abstract

This paper argues that ethnic language retention is core to the productivity of ethnic minorities. The decline of ethnic languages such as the Samoan language in New Zealand signals a loss that poses a serious threat to the wellbeing and productivity of Samoans in New Zealand. The Samoan language is under serious threat in New Zealand. The absence of a language policy by New Zealand governments to ensure the maintenance of the Samoan language in New Zealand has largely contributed to the decline in the number of speakers. For nearly 40 years Samoans have been lobbying governments and the Ministry of Education for Samoan language programmes to be available at all school class levels. Its maintenance in New Zealand requires acknowledgement of a link between stable ethnic identities and ethnic group productivity and of the “killer” effect, as argued by Tove Skutnabb-Kangas (2002), of the hegemonies of the dominant English language on ethnic minority languages such as the Samoan language in New Zealand.