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Although I have set out to talk about the culture of the tiny island nation of Papua New Guinea, the work is literally impossible. This is because there is no such thing as a Papuan culture. You might not be able to believe it, but this tiny country with an area of 462,840 sq km and a population of approximately 6,300,000 is home to the largest number of culturally diverse groups in the world.
Papua New Guinea is one of the most heterogeneous nations in the world. There are hundreds of ethnic groups indigenous to Papua New Guinea, the majority being from the group known as Papuans, whose ancestors arrived in the New Guinea region tens of thousands of years ago. The others are Austronesians, their ancestors having arrived in the region less than four thousand years ago. There are also numerous people from other parts of the world now resident, including Chinese, Europeans, Australians, Filipinos, Polynesians and Micronesians.
Languages
Surprise, surprise. This country, which lies 104th in the world in terms of population, has the largest number of spoken languages in the world! Yes, none of the bigger countries have more spoken languages than the 820 languages currently in use in Papua New Guinea.
Officially speaking (no pun intended), the country has three languages:
English -This is the language of official work and is the language used by the government and in the education system. It is not very widely spoken.
Tok Pisin - This is the most widely spoken language in the country and the parliamentary debates are usually conducted in it. It is also known as the New Guinea pidgin.
Hiri Motu - The southern region is the only region where Tok Pisin is not widely prevalent. Here the lingua franca is Hiri Motu.
With an average of only 7,000 speakers per language, Papua New Guinea has a greater density of languages than any other nation on earth, except Vanuatu.
If you are planning a trip to Papua New Guinea, we think you have made a good choice. You will not be disappointed.
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