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Kabila

Why does Papua New Guinea have so many languages and peoples?

Papua New Guinea has about 840 living languages, more than any other country, according to Ethnologue. The main reasons are very long human settlement, of around 50,000 years, and rugged land. Mountains, swamps and islands kept small communities apart, so each developed its own language and customs.

People have lived on the island of New Guinea for roughly 50,000 years. That is a very long time for languages to split and change. The country's languages belong to dozens of separate families, many with no proven link to one another.

Geography reinforced the separation. Steep mountain ranges, dense forest, large swamps and scattered islands made travel hard. Communities were largely self-sufficient, growing their own food in gardens, so they had little need to merge into larger units. No empire or large kingdom ever spread one language across the island.

Language is also a badge of identity. Researchers have noted that neighbouring groups in New Guinea often value being different from each other, and many people grow up speaking several local languages. A village may be proud that its speech differs from that of the next valley.

Most of these languages have a few thousand speakers or fewer. People use Tok Pisin, an English-based creole, as a common language, alongside English and Hiri Motu. Land is still mostly held by clans under customary ownership, which helps keep local communities and their languages in place.

Words used here

Language familyLingua francaEndangered languageClanHorticultureCustomary law

Sources

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