Academics contribute to reprinting of 1986 Tokelau Dictionary

Dr Hana Salome Tuisano and Professor Chris Cunningham from the Research Centre for Hauora and Health have been instrumental figures in the recent reprinting of the Tokelau Dictionary. The original was published in 1986.

In 2021, the Tokelau Dictionary Project Team (TDPT), comprised of language advocates from Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, and Hawai’i, collaborated with the Tokelau Administrators Office within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Manatu Aorere, the Council for the Ongoing Government of Tokelau (copyright owners), and retired anthropologist Associate Professor Judith Huntsman to reprint the dictionary.

Limited numbers of the dictionary have been reprinted to date, and the TDPT has distributed 100 copies to Tokelau, and 50 copies to Tokelauan communities in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, and Hawaii. The focus of the reprint was to keep the language alive for the Tokelau diaspora. In 2018, 8,000 Tokelauans were residing in Aotearoa New Zealand, compared to 1,400 in Tokelau. Of those living here, only 2,025 people of Tokelau descent can speak the language.

Dr Tuisano says she is passionate about being part of the journey to revitalise Te gagana Tokelau - Ke Olatia te Gagana Tokelau.

“In the diaspora, Te gagana Tokelau is being used less and less within families. Therefore, second to fifth-generation Tokelauans now require urgent access and support in learning and maintaining their mother tongue to protect the language from further decline,” she says.

New funding for a further reprint came from the Ministry of Pacific Peoples, after the TDPT Team and Massey University successfully applied for funding from its Languages Community Fund.

In celebration of Tokelau Language Week, the new funding will allow 3000 copies of the dictionary to be distributed to Tokelauan communities across Aotearoa through the Tokelau Leadership Team in Wellington.

The TDPT is comprised of: Reverend Iutana Pue (Contextual Theology and Tokelau Language Advisor), John Pedro (Tokelau language Advisor).

Reviewers and advisors: Associate Professor Sania Fa’amaile Betty P Ickes (University of Hawai’i), Executive Director, Te Taki Tokelau Community Inc Leeward CC (Wahiawa, HI), Vaioleti Lui and Nila Lemisio-Poasa.

Tokelau Elders language advisors: Mr Loimata Iupati MEd, Mr Ioane Teao (Tokelau Bible lead translator), Mr Salesio Lui, Rev Elder Tui Sopoaga.

Project lead: Dr Hana Salome Tuisano.