Transcript
The two day conference, held in the village of Mutalau, focussed on helping Niueans sustain and use the language to strengthen their culture and maintain ties with Niue nationals living abroad.
The Chairperson of the Niue Language Commission Tifaole Ioane says that while colonisation has had its benefits, it also led to the suppression of Vagahau Niue.
She went to primary school in Niue in the 1960's and recalls how children were forbidden to speak Vagahau Niue in school.
"In my own time, you know, having gone to school here, I can remember having to be punished for speaking Niuean and having to write lines "I must not speak Niuean. I must not speak Niuean..."
Ms Ioane says back then, locals were taught that their culture and language were inferior to that of the west and the English language.
She says elders are now trying to turn that mentality around.
"The problems that colonisers had left behind you know, they've taught us well to look down on our culture, to look down on our language. You know, at this late stage we're trying to grip onto it and try to think otherwise. You know, now we're learning that there is a lot of value in our own culture."
Guest speaker, Ina Vakaafi, says her family moved back to Niue from New Zealand when she was seven years old.
She arrived in 1990, two years after all the outer schools were amalgamated into one primary school in Niue's capital, Alofi.
She says she was first placed in a mono-lingual classroom with other children of expatriates living in Niue, until she could merge into the bilingual classrooms where Vagahau Niue was used in the curriculum.
"I only knew English, I was in a monolingual class and I noticed that I was the only brown kid in there and I asked the teacher 'ok, how do I get to that class?' and she said 'you need to learn your Vagahu Niue'. I found it so hard just trying to get my lunch off my cousin. She spoke vagahau Niue, I only spoke English. So those are some of the things that motivated me to learn quickly."
Ms Vakaafi says Niue youth, both local and abroad, often lack confidence to speak Vagahau Niue because they're embarrassed they might say something wrong.
She says it is crucial that Vagahau Niue is passed on and more youth should be encouraged and supported to sustain it.
"We are the custodians of a language that very few people speak and we should be proud of that but we need to be sure that we pass it on the best that we can to the next generation."
While 1,600 Niueans live on island, about 30,000 Niueans live overseas.
Guest speaker Dr Robert Early, who is the Head of the Department of Languages at the University of the South Pacific, says makes it even more challenging to sustain Vagahau Niue.
He says locals are doing a great job in making sure the language is maintained.
"I think the people here have made some absolutely amazing progress in some of the resources that they've developed, in their education programmes, their commitment, their language policy environment that they've created through the National Language Commission and so on. So there are a lot of really good signs in place for continuing to support the maintenance and even the development and expansion of the Niuean language in Niue itself."
Niue's annual arts and cultural festival will begin this weekend and will feature a songwriting competition in Vagahau Niue in celebration of the language.
In Niue, this is Indira Stewart.
