Summary: A group of linguists from the University of Auckland is trying to help save a local language under threat in Papua New Guinea. They've been running literature workshops in Bougainville with the aim of producing works in Naasioi, one of the 25 languages there. Any known printed writings in the language were destroyed during the Bougainville conflict, which lasted a decade from 1988 to 1998. Three University of Auckland researchers have been working with locals at the request of the manager of the Haus Stori, the library established in the Bougainville township of Arawa, with the help of New Zealand author Lloyd Jones in 2012. One of the researchers, Masters student Brittni Smith, says the children have no books written in Naasioi and that is one of the goals for helping locals preserve their language.
