'The children have no books in their language'

University of Auckland linguistics Masters student and researcher Brittni Smith.

Brittni Smith with a child in Bougainville.

The University of Auckland language researchers with the Bougainville people.

Lead researcher Jason Brown in Bougainville

Brittni Smith created a laminated Naasioi alphabet for people to learn from. The drawings were done by locals.

Naasioi writing.

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.  The three University of Auckland researchers have been working with locals in the Bougainville township of Arawa. 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.