The legacy of youth: The seeds of change and the diversity of voices in Papua New Guinea

Linguistic diversity in Papua New Guinea comes in many guises –diversity of genetic groups, diversity in language numbers, and diversity of linguistic structures and forms. Add to this the diversity of genres and speech registers available in the speech repertoire of every thriving language community. TRANSGENERATIONAL diversity adds a further dimension to this. Young people develop new forms, new ways of saying things, and even new languages. And they are hardly a minority or a negligible group. Within the context of PNG an estimated 76% of the population are aged under thirty five; 40% of the population are aged under fifteen.