Dr Joshua Nash, from UNE’s School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences, will continue his studies of the Pitcairn Island language, Pitkern, courtesy of a $381,601 ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA).

Having discovered that many Pitkern speakers actually live in New Zealand and Australia, Josh will use the grant to extend earlier work by interviewing them and seek answers to questions about how languages evolve.

“People removed from their homeland maintain contact with home through their language,” he said. “I will explore how language enables people to continue to identify as Pitcairners, and with fellow islanders and the island itself. This could have applications for our understanding of other island languages, which are typically spoken by few people, but are key to our understanding of personal identity and culture in different environments.

“Geographically, island nations of the Pacific are our closest neighbours, yet we know surprisingly little about their languages and the process of how languages change over time.”