The Malakula languages are a group of

Central Vanuatu languages The Central Vanuatu languages form a linkage of Southern Oceanic languages spoken in central Vanuatu. Languages Clark (2009) Clark (2009) provides the following classification of the Central Vanuatu languages, divided into geographic areas. Outl ...

spoken on

Malakula Malakula, also spelled Malekula, is the second-largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, formerly the New Hebrides, in Melanesia, a region of the Pacific Ocean. Location Malakula is separated from the islands of Espiritu Santo and Malo Island, Ma ...

Island in central

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

. Unlike some earlier classifications,

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

and

Oceanic languages The approximately 450 Oceanic languages are a branch of the Austronesian languages. The area occupied by speakers of these languages includes Polynesia, as well as much of Melanesia and Micronesia. Though covering a vast area, Oceanic languages ...

specialist John Lynch (2016) considered the Malakula languages to form a coherent group.

Features

One distinctive feature of the Malakula languages is the pervasive loss of unstressed syllables. However, according to Lynch (2014), the innovation occurred after Proto-Malakula broke up, and may have occurred on at least seven different independent occasions.

Classification

Lynch (2016) divides the Malakula languages into three primary subgroups, namely ''Northern'', ''Eastern'', and ''Western'', all three of which are linkages. Lynch (2016) recognizes 32 languages. *Malakula **Northern *** Malua Bay ***North Coast ****

Nese Nese may refer to: * Nese, Italy, a village in northern Italy * Nese, Norway, a village in south-western Norway * Nese language, an Oceanic language or dialect spoken in Vanuatu * Tony Nese, American professional wrestler See also * Neşe, ...

**** Botovro ****Vovo, Vao **Eastern ***

Uripiv Uripiv is a small inhabited island in Malampa Province of Vanuatu in the Pacific Ocean. Uripiv lies off the north coast of Malekula Island. The estimated terrain elevation above the sea level is some 8 meters. Population As of 2015, the officia ...

*** Unua *** Aulua *** Banam Bay ***Southeastern **** Bwenelang **** Nasvang, Nisvai **** Port Sandwich, Avok, Axamb **** Maskelynes **Western ***Central Western **** Neve'ei **** Larëvat **** Naman ***Peripheral Western **** Ninde **** Nāti ****Northwestern ***** V'ënen Taut ***** Tape ***** Tirax ****Southwestern ***** Lendamboi ***** Aveteian ***** Navwien ***** Avava ***** Nasarian ***** Naha'ai, Nahavaq The Central-Western linkage is only very weakly defined, while Ninde and Nāti have similarities with both the Northwestern and Southwestern linkages. The positions of the Sörsörian, Rerep, Vivti, and Nitita languages were not addressed.

Languages

François (

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Features

Classification

Languages

Vocabulary comparison

Numbers

Other basic words

References

Further reading

External links