Preserving Papua New Guinea’s Endangered Languages with John Mansfield, Roger Maikei, and Sara Schindler
Text by the New Guinea Binatang Research Centre
Working in partnership with the New Guinea Binatang Research Centre (NGBRC), Professor John Mansfield (University of Zurich), MPhil candidate Roger Maikei, and PhD student Sara Schindler recently completed a field expedition to document and study the endangered Mum \[kqa] language in the Josephstaal region of Middle-Ramu District, Madang Province.
To reach Kinbugor village, the team braved an epic journey — first by road to Iringi, then by canoe to Umsa for an overnight stop, and finally a trek on foot through dense jungle from Wasu. This challenging route reflects the level of dedication required to reach remote communities where Papua New Guinea’s most unique and at-risk languages are still spoken.
Mum \[kqa], listed as endangered in Ethnologue, is still spoken by adults in the community, but fewer young people are learning it — raising concerns about its long-term survival. PhD researcher Sara Schindler brings a unique lens to the study, exploring how people tell stories and express emotion across cultures — even measuring heart rates during conversations to better understand the link between language and feeling. Meanwhile, Roger Maikei continues his documentation work on two other endangered languages — Sene and Momare (Eastern Huon Family) — in Finschhafen and Tewae-Siassi districts of Morobe Province.
All three — Mum, Sene, and Momare — are Papuan languages within the Trans–New Guinea (TNG) family, one of the world’s largest language groups. TNG languages stretch across PNG’s highlands and southern lowlands, rich in unique grammatical structures and linguistic features.
