Partners
Prayer Partners:
8 Current
2 Needed
Total Opportunity:
$37,752 Funded
$0 Needed
Demographics
- Location:
- Papua New Guinea
- Speakers:
- 1,680
- Start Year:
- 2005
- End Year:
- 2009
Reports to Investors
Polynesian Outlier NT Cluster
Languages participating in this cluster:
- Nukumanu
- Takuu
The Mortlock and Tasman atolls of Papua New Guinea are home to two groups of Polynesian Outliers who speak the Takuu and Nukumanu languages. Surrounded by a vast ocean, the Outliers are isolated in every way by time, distance, communications and resources. Access to relief supplies and transport is limited; travel to and from the atolls can involve weeks of waiting for a ship to come. Like castaways, Outliers face the daily challenge of obtaining the bare necessities of life such as food, water, clothing, shelter and fire.
Linguistically, Takuu and Nukumanu are classified as Ellicean languages in the Samoic-Outlier cluster of the Central Polynesian language family. There are eight related Outlier languages in this particular cluster: three are spoken on the atolls of Papua New Guinea, two in Solomon Islands, two in Micronesia and one in Tuvalu. A New Testament has recently been published in one of the Outlier languages of Solomon Islands. With this New Testament as a source text, Outliers in Papua New Guinea will now be able to computer-adapt it into their languages as well.
A team of mother-tongue translators on both atolls has been trained in Bible, translation, computer and use of translation software. These translators will generate computer-adapted texts, check them for exegetical accuracy and test them in their communities for comprehension and naturalness. Once they have made needed revisions, they will email translated texts to a consultant via solar-powered satellite phone. Funds from Seed Company partners for this project will provide for each atoll: a computer, printer, solar system, software, office supplies and shipping costs, as well as modest salaries and continued training for four mother-tongue translators on Mortlock and two on Tasman.
News from the Field
- May06
Polynesian Outlier of PNG
Mortlock and Tasman atolls are home to 1,680 people, two groups of Polynesian Outliers who speak the Takuu and Nukumanu languages. An atoll is the rim of an ancient undersea volcano, which has formed a large ring of islets and coral reef encircling a huge lagoon. A snorkeler’s dream come true, this paradise would seem the perfect “get away from it all” destination; but for those who live there, it is no vacation. - Nov26
Daily Prayer: the Polynesian Outlier Cluster
Pray with us for the Polynesian Outlier Cluster.