Anja Becker

With a background in natural sciences and humanities, I am currently doing my PhD on "The Social, Demographic and Strategic Dynamics of Multilingualism in Vanuatu", which is supervised by Dr Heidi Colleran (BirthRites Group).

This project is a case study within the ERC-funded project "Multilingual worlds – neglected histories. Uncovering their emergence, continuity and loss in past and present societies" (MULTILING-HIST), led by Principal Investigator Prof Justyna Olko at the University of Warsaw.

The MULTILING-HIST project explores multi-level dimensions of historical and contemporary multilingualism:

1. the presence of individual multilingualism in local and regional settings;
2. the characteristics and dynamics of such multilingual settings, in other words, societal multilingualism.

The project embraces historical and contemporary multilingual milieux from four world regions, including Vanuatu. A multidisciplinary approach will combine historical and present data, qualitative, quantitative and experimental methods, as well as mathematical modeling, data-driven mapping and GIS mapping.

The main aim of my project is to collect empirical data on the dynamics of contemporary multilingualism in Vanuatu, as well as understanding local attitudes, aspirations and ideologies regarding multilingualism.

I am very much looking forward to getting to know Vanuatu, collecting & analyzing data, and everything else this PhD journey has to offer!