SUVA, FIJI (AP) _ ALL SCHOOLS IN FIJI HAVE BEEN DIRECTED TO TEACH TWO LOCAL LANGUAGES THROUGHOUT STUDENTS' 12 YEARS OF FORMAL SCHOOLING IN AN EFFORT TO AVERT THEIR DECAY, THE GOVERNMENT SAID THURSDAY.

THE DIRECTIVE, WHICH COVERS FIJIAN AND ROTUMAN, ALSO APPLIES TO STUDENTS WHO HAVE GOVERNMENT SCHOLARSHIPS TO ATTEND THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC IN SUVA, THE CAPITAL.

ENGLISH, FIJIAN AND HINDI ARE FIJI'S THREE CONSTITUTIONALLY PRESCRIBED OFFICIAL LANGUAGES, BUT BECAUSE OF DIALECT DIFFERENCES, ENGLISH HAS BECOME THE MAIN LANGUAGE.

BUT THE WIDE USE OF ENGLISH HAS LEFT THE PACIFIC ISLAND NATION'S 380,000 PEOPLE WITH A DIMINISHING GRIP ON THEIR OWN LANGUAGES.

IN A STATEMENT, FIJI'S CABINET SAID THERE WAS NO NEED FOR THE COMPULSORY TEACHING OF HINDI, SPOKEN BY ABOUT 40 PERCENT OF THE POPULATION, BECAUSE IT WAS IN NO DANGER OF FALLING INTO DISUSE.

FIJIAN HAS ITS ORIGINS IN MELANESIAN AND POLYNESIAN LANGUAGES AND HAS ABOUT 300 VARIETIES, SAID DR. PAUL GERAGHTY, AN IRISH LINGUIST FLUENT IN ALL OF THEM AND WHO RECENTLY PRODUCED THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE FIJIAN LANGUAGE DICTIONARY.

HE SAID THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SOME DIALECTS WERE SLIGHT BUT BETWEEN OTHERS SO LARGE THAT PEOPLE IN WESTERN FIJI COULD NOT UNDERSTAND THOSE IN THE EAST.

FOR THIS REASON, MOST FIJIANS HAVE BECOME FLUENT IN ENGLISH OR ``STANDARD'' FIJIAN, WHICH EVOLVED FROM SEVERAL DIALECTS USED IN THE DISTRICT AROUND SUVA.

STANDARD FIJIAN IS USED BY NEWSPAPERS, RADIO STATIONS AND IN GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS.

ROTUMA, AN ISOLATED SMALL ISLAND 400 MILES (640 KMS) NORTH OF SUVA, IS THE ONLY PURELY POLYNESIAN LOCAL SOCIETY IN THE 360 ISLAND FIJI GROUP.

ITS LANGUAGE IS A 3,000-YEAR-OLD, POLYNESIAN-BASED TONGUE SPOKEN ONLY BY THE 12,000 ROTUMAN PEOPLE, OF WHOM ONLY ABOUT 4,000 REMAIN ON THE ISLAND. ABOUT 8,000 ROTUMAN PEOPLE LIVE ON VITI LEVU, THE MAIN ISLAND OF FIJI.

12 NOV 98