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Takena Redfern Mauri
from Kiribati! My name is Takena Redfern, a graduate
student of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources,
Department
of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences. My field of study is
Tropical
Plant Pathology, that is the study of Plant diseases. Although
I’m from a
science field of study, I always passionate about
linguistic. I love learning
other languages, studying my own and to enjoy the beauty of languages. I
always consider that I'm fortunate to come to
study at University of Hawai’i, Manoa and be part of the
Language Documentation
Training Center. Being part of the LDTC has significantly improving my
knowledge on Linguistic and understandings about my language. In
addition, I
personally feel that LDTC has helped to reconnect me to my
homeland and
family through projects I’m currently doing. This makes me
more to look deeper
at issues and facts about my language and thus knowing more of my own
identity
as an I-Kiribati. My
language is called ‘Kiribati language’ and is the
mother
language which used throughout the islands of Kiribati. There are no
dialects between different islands from
different parts
of Kiribati – Northern, Central and Southern. It is only for
few
words that used differently
between the
islands. However, the ‘Kiribati language’ as I may
say has
evolved
due to migration of the natives during colonial times to
other
part of
the Pacific such as Fiji and Solomon. I-Kiribati people in these places
still use the same language but there is slight difference from the
‘Kiribati
language’ used in Kiribati. |