The Gujarati language in Fiji

Abstract

This paper presents a sociolinguistic sketch of Gujarati, a minority language in Fiji.
Unlike the majority of Indo-Fijians, who are descendants of indentured labourers
brought by the British colonial government to work on plantations at the turn of
the last century, the Gujaratis came to Fiji as free migrants and have kept kinship
and business ties with the Indian state of Gujarat and, increasingly, a worldwide
diaspora. The paper reports the results of an exploratory survey of language use
and attitudes among Gujaratis in the capital, Suva. It compares the fate of Gujarati
to that of other minority Indian languages in Fiji with respect to language shift and
maintenance.