BBC Travel - The language at the end of the Earth

"To speak our language is to preserve who we are. It is the most profound expression of our Rapa Nui and Polynesian spirit.” 

- Rapa Nui linguist Viki Haoa Cardinali


Easter Island remains a remote island quite isolated from the world around it and as it was formed less than a million years ago, it remains one of the youngest inhabited areas of the world. 

"Over centuries, Polynesian explorers braved the Pacific Ocean in search of new worlds. By 1200 AD, settlers had reached Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, bringing crops, customs and language with them.... Clues to the complex society that emerged on Rapa Nui can be found everywhere; the island’s volcanic landscape boasts one of the richest collections of rock art in Polynesia. But barely a trace remains of what is Rapa Nui’s most tantalising cultural legacy: a mysterious form of writing called Rongorongo."

Efforts to decode the language have been met with frustration and failure.  Since the original language of the island has changed over centuries, being shaped by other cultural groups who arrived there, the hopes of being able to decode the writings before the language effectively "dies" with those who still speak some of it are dwindling. 

Historian Cristián Moreno Pakarati stated "The impact was an enormous loss of knowledge. It’s as if out of the seven billion people alive in the world today, only one million were left. How much knowledge would we lose?” 

For reflection:  
  • Consider the impact this would have on the knowledge of / from your own culture.  
  • It is natural that language evolves over time, influenced by the experiences, culture and patters of those who use it.  What type of information is only available to us through oral or written text?  
  • How vulnerable is your own language to change / loss?  
  • What would the world lose if your own language / culture was suddenly removed from it? 
  • Which written / recorded texts would give a strong indication of the state of the world or human patterns? 
  • Imagine that some of the world's core written texts suddenly disappeared - What knowledge would be "missing" from our shared knowledge base today if those texts suddenly vanished? 

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