Pacific Language Course Launched During Tonga Language Week

Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland has proudly launched an exciting new course by distinguished Tongan linguist Dr Melenaite Taumoefolau - timed perfectly to coincide with Tonga Language Week.

The Pacific Studies senior lecturer last year gave the opening address at the New Zealand Association of Language Teachers Biennial Conference, and the World Congress of the International Federation of Language Teacher Associations - Rethinking Pacific Language Teaching.

She has been a strong advocate for the revitalisation of Pacific languages both locally in Aotearoa and internationally.

“Language is more than vocabulary - it is a system of concepts that reflects the lifeways and worldview of its speakers. It is the essential tool through which we learn to understand, think and talk about the world around us.”

The new course, Pacific Language Studies: Issues and Resolutions, explores the complex and vital role of Pacific languages in shaping identity, culture and worldview.

Topics will include language endangerment and maintenance, orthographies (the standardized systems for writing a language, including its spelling, alphabet and punctuation rules), translation and teaching and learning practices - all examined through a Pacific lens.

To mark the launch, Dr Taumoefolau delivered an insightful seminar at the University on 21 August, providing a deep dive into lea faka-Tonga, the Tongan language and its unique conceptual and cultural frameworks.

“Language is a device for talking about things, and different languages don't necessarily say the same things, they don't necessarily talk about the same things.

“As this is Tonga Language Week, I want to illustrate how Tongan language reflects a somewhat different worldview, by letting you inside the language so you can take a brief glance at the conceptual world that speakers of Tongan language live in.”

She gave an overview of the stratified levels of Tongan language, illustrating how language reflects the hierarchical nature of Tongan society. Dr Taumoefolau explained how commoners address royalty, including the Tongan King, using distinct vocabulary and respectful forms of speech. These linguistic layers are not just grammatical - they are cultural codes that signal status, respect and relational context.

Dr Taumoefolau also challenged conventional views of language as merely a system of grammar. Instead, she described language as a conceptual and cognitive tool - a means of thinking, knowing and constructing reality.

'Without language, we cannot think. Language is the instrument through which we create our worldviews,' she said.

Her seminar was both a celebration of Tongan linguistic heritage and a call to action for Pacific communities and scholars to engage deeply with their languages - not only to preserve them, but to understand the worlds they encode.

Hailing from Nukualofa, Tongatapu, Dr Taumoefolau was previously Principal of Tonga College and a senior education officer in the Tongan Ministry of Education.

She was the first Pasifika woman to graduate with a PhD at the University of Auckland.

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