As most of the readers of this web site know, Ken Rehg has been long associated with the Pohnpeian language. I first met him at the Micro 7 training site in Wene, Pohnpei, where he was continuing his job as a Peace Corp Training Officer. His Pohnpei language work started with the fifth training program, which was held on Udot in Chuuk (then Truk), and continued through the Micro 8 group:
Micros 5-6 Udot (1967)
Micros 7-8 (1968 and 1969) Wene
Ken and Damian Sohl started working on new language teaching materials after Ken moved to Pohnpei, more than a half a year after he left Chuuk. They used materials developed by the University of Hawaii during the two Udot programs.
Ken was raised in Belleville, an Illinois suburb of St. Louis. He received a BA from the University of Illinois and an MA from Southern Illinois University. Both degrees were in English. He has a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Hawai'i. Along with a few friends, he ended up founding a company in DC called the International Center for Language Studies The International Center for Language Studies, which is still in business in DC. They started meeting with Peace Corps staff, who sent Ken to India to work the second half of a training program that began in New York.
Apparently, he did OK with the India program, and this eventually led to Ken's joining the Micronesia project. He has published a fair number of articles since he's been on the faculty at the University of Hawaii, and the one I enjoyed the most is "Taking the Pulse of Pohnpeian," (1998) in which Ken writes about whether Pohnpeian is likely to die out under the onslaught of English. You can view that article by clicking its link below.
My impression, confirmed by other recent visitors, is that the young Pohnpeians who work in Kolonia stores are reasonably fluent in English, but they nearly always converse with each other in Pohnpeian. I tried out my very rusty Pohnpeian with the young men and women who worked at the Seven Stars Inn, and they were happy to help me figure out how to say things that I had forgotten.
Anyway, I wanted to write this short sketch of Ken because it has been such a pleasure to stay in touch with him over the years and because he kindly offered to include me in the team that is compiling a second edition of the Pohnpeian-English Dictionary.