Identity negotiation and the hidden hierarchies in postcolonial Fiji

This study dismantles the pervasive narrative of harmonious trilingualism in postcolonial Fiji. Through a mixed-methods investigation, we reveal a stark paradox: while English lacks formal constitutional status and vernaculars are celebrated as identity markers, a powerful schizoglossic reality entrenches English dominance. Our data expose a fundamental asymmetry: English aggressively infiltrates vernacular spaces, yet the reverse is stigmatised as ‘wrong’ or ‘uneducated’. This dynamic, coupled with English’s significant penetration into private and traditional domains, demonstrates how colonial hierarchies are not merely functional but have undergone a ‘cultural practical shift’, internalised and reproduced through everyday ideology, pragmatic choice, and affective responses like lexical embarrassment. We argue that Fiji’s multilingualism is less a model of coexistence and more a site of silent epistemic struggle, where performative equality masks a deeply internalised linguistic market. Moving beyond this requires confronting the ideological core of language attitudes and designing policies for genuine epistemic justice, not just symbolic pluralism.