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Bislama
Bislama ( ; ; also known by its earlier French name, ) is an English-based creole language. It is the national language of Vanuatu, and one of the three official languages of the country, the other ones being English and French. Bislama is the first language of many of the "Urban ni-Vanuatu" (citizens who live in Port Vila and Luganville) and the second language of much of the rest of the country's residents. The lyrics of " Yumi, Yumi, Yumi", the country's national anthem, are composed in Bislama. More than 95% of Bislama words are of English origin, whilst the remainder comprises a few dozen words from French as well as some specific vocabulary inherited from various languages of Vanuatu—although these are essentially limited to flora and fauna terminology. While the influence of these vernacular languages is low on the vocabulary side, it is very high in the morphosyntax. As such, Bislama can be described simply as a language with an English vocabulary and an Oceanic gra ...
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Ni-Vanuatu
Ni-Vanuatu (informally abbreviated Ni-Van) is a large group of closely related Melanesians, Melanesian ethnic groups native to the island country of Vanuatu. As such, ''ni-Vanuatu'' are a mixed ethnolinguistic group with a shared ethnogenesis that speak a multitude of languages. The ''ni-Vanuatu'' or ''ni-Van'' is usually restricted to the indigenous population of Vanuatu. It contrasts with the demonym ''Vanuatuan'', which in principle refers to any citizen of Vanuatu, regardless of their origin or ethnicity. (The form ''Vanuatuan'' is in fact rarely used in English, and is regarded as incorrect by some authors and style guides.) Due to the history of British Empire, British and Second French Empire, French Condominium of the New Hebrides, colonialism, indigenous people of Vanuatu generally speak English and French, as well as Bislama. The cultural aspects of ni-Vanuatu society have been instilled on the indigenous community and are expressed through clothing, rituals, ceremon ...
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Languages Of Vanuatu
The Republic of Vanuatu has the world's highest linguistic density per capita. Despite being a country with a Demographics of Vanuatu, population of less than 300,000, Vanuatu is home to 138 indigenous Oceanic languages, Oceanic languages. The country's three official languages are of foreign origin: English language, English, French language, French, and Bislama, an English-based creole languages, English-based creole language.Constitution of Vanuatu Article 3 Additional languages are also spoken as a result of recent migrations (e.g. Samoan language, Samoan, Hakka Chinese, Mandarin Chinese). The linguistic situation in Vanuatu Indigenous languages There are over one hundred local languages spread over the archipelago (#List_of_Vanuatu’s_indigenous_languages, listed below), all of them belonging to the Austronesian languages, Austronesian family of languages. Vanuatu is the country with the highest density of languages per capita in the world: it currently shows an average o ...
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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 of New Guinea, southeast of Solomon Islands, and west of Fiji. Vanuatu was first inhabited by Melanesians, Melanesian people. The first Europeans to visit the islands were a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, Fernandes de Queirós, who arrived on the largest island, Espíritu Santo, in 1606. Queirós claimed the archipelago for Spain, as part of the colonial Spanish East Indies and named it . In the 1880s, France and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom claimed parts of the archipelago, and in 1906, they agreed on a framework for jointly managing the archipelago as the New Hebrides through an Anglo-French condominium (international law), condominium. An independence movem ...
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Melanesian Pidgin (other)
Melanesian Pidgin or Neo-Melanesian language comprises four related English-derived languages of Melanesia: * Bislama, of Vanuatu * Solomon Islands Pidgin * Tok Pisin, of Papua New Guinea * Torres Strait Creole Torres Strait Creole (), also known as Torres Strait Pidgin, Brokan/Broken, Cape York Creole, Lockhart Creole, Kriol, Papuan, Broken English, Blaikman, Big Thap, Pizin, and Ailan Tok, is an English-based creole language (a variety of Pidgin ..., of the Torres Strait Islands and parts of Cape York These languages are linked to workers from these places working on plantations in the Australian state of Queensland. Torres Strait Creole is the least closely related of the four. Further reading * * * * See also * Micronesian Pidgin English, spoken in nineteenth-century Micronesia * Pidgin (other) {{Pidgin-lang-stub English-based pidgins and creoles ...
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Avoiuli
Avoiuli (from Raga 'talk about' and 'draw' or 'paint') is a writing system used by the Turaga indigenous movement on Pentecost Island in Vanuatu. It was devised by Chief Viraleo Boborenvanua over a 14-year period, based on designs found in traditional sand drawings, and intended as a native alternative to the Latin alphabet. It is used mainly for writing in the area's native Raga language, although it can also be used for other languages including Apma, Bislama and English. Features The Avoiuli alphabet comprises characters equivalent to the letters ''A''–''Z'', decimal numerals and other symbols, including a range of currency symbols representing the livatu and specific items of traditional value such as pigs and dyed mats. Like the Western orthography used to write Raga, it represents the velar nasal ''ng'' and prenasalised consonant ''ngg'' using modified forms of the letters ''n'' and ''g'' respectively, but represents the labiovelar consonants ''bw'', ''mw'' an ...
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Torres Strait Creole
Torres Strait Creole (), also known as Torres Strait Pidgin, Brokan/Broken, Cape York Creole, Lockhart Creole, Kriol, Papuan, Broken English, Blaikman, Big Thap, Pizin, and Ailan Tok, is an English-based creole language (a variety of Pidgin English) spoken on several Torres Strait Islands of Queensland, Australia; Northern Cape York; and south-western coastal Papua New Guinea (PNG). It has an estimated 20,000–30,000 mother-tongue and bi/tri-lingual speakers. It is widely used as a language of trade and commerce. History Records of pidgin English being used in Torres Strait exist from as early as the 1840s (e.g. Moore 1979), and therefore Torres Strait Creole may very well be as old as, if not older, than its sister languages, and not a descendant of any of these. It was spread throughout the islands because many considered it to be English. The main importers of the pidgin were British and other sailors, many of whom were South Sea Islanders, both Melanesian and Polyne ...
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Yumi, Yumi, Yumi
"" (; "We, We, We") is the national anthem of Vanuatu. It was written and composed by François Vincent Ayssav (born 1955) and adopted by the citizens of 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 ... in 1980. Lyrics References External links * PartnersinrhymeThe anthem sung at the 40th anniversary of independence celebrations National anthems Music of Vanuatu National symbols of Vanuatu Oceanian anthems Year of song missing Compositions in C major Bislama words and phrases {{Anthem-stub ...
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Pijin
Pijin (Solomon Islands Pidgin) is a language spoken in Solomon Islands. It is closely related to Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea and Bislama of Vanuatu; the three varieties are sometimes considered to be dialects of a single Melanesian Pidgin language. It is also related to Torres Strait Creole of Torres Strait, though more distantly. In 1999 there were 307,000 second- or third-language speakers with a literacy rate in first language of 60%, a literacy rate in second language of 50%. History 1800–1860 During the early nineteenth century, an English jargon, known as Beach-la-Mar, developed and spread through the Western Pacific as a language used among traders (lingua franca) associated with the whaling industry at the end of the 18th century, the sandalwood trade of the 1830s, and the '' bêche-de-mer'' trade of the 1850s. 1860–1880 Between 1863 and 1906, blackbirding was used for the sugar cane plantation labour trade in Queensland, Samoa, Fiji and New Caledonia. A ...
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New Hebrides
New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium () and named after the Hebrides in Scotland, was the colonial name for the island group in the South Pacific Ocean that is now Vanuatu. Native people had inhabited the islands for three thousand years before the first Europeans arrived in 1606 from a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernandes de Queirós. The islands were named by Captain James Cook in 1774 and subsequently colonised by both the British and the French. The two countries eventually signed an agreement making the islands an Anglo-French condominium that provided for joint sovereignty over the archipelago with two parallel administrations, one British, one French. In some respects, that divide continued even after independence, with schools teaching in either one language or the other. The condominium lasted from 1906 until 1980, when New Hebrides gained its independence as the Republic of Vanuatu. Politics and economy The New Hebrides ...
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Port Vila
Port Vila ( ; ), or simply Vila (), is the capital of Vanuatu and its largest city. It is on the island of Efate, in Shefa Province. The population was 49,034 as of the 2020 census. In 2020, the population of Port Vila formed 16.3% of the country's population. Located on the east coast of the island of Efate, Port Vila is the economic and commercial centre of Vanuatu. The mayor is Jenny Regenvanu of the Land and Justice Party, the first woman to hold the position, elected in August 2024. Her deputy was Marie Louise Milne, of the Green Confederation, until the seat was vacated in January 2025. Name Locally, the town is most commonly referred to simply as "Vila", whether in French or Bislama or in English (not like English "villa"). The name of the area is ''Efil'' in the native South Efate language and ''Ifira'' in neighbouring Mele-Fila language. ''Vila'' is a variant of these names. Ifira is a small island in Vila harbour where many traditional landowners res ...
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Tok Pisin
Tok Pisin ( ,Laurie Bauer, 2007, ''The Linguistics Student's Handbook'', Edinburgh ; ), often referred to by English speakers as New Guinea Pidgin or simply Pidgin, is an English-based creole languages, English creole language spoken throughout Papua New Guinea. It is an official Languages of Papua New Guinea, language of Papua New Guinea and the most widely used language in the country. In parts of the southern provinces of Western Province (Papua New Guinea), Western, Gulf Province, Gulf, Central Province (Papua New Guinea), Central, Oro Province, Oro, and Milne Bay Province, Milne Bay, the use of Tok Pisin has a shorter history and is less universal, especially among older people. Between five and six million people use Tok Pisin to some degree, though not all speak it fluently. Many now learn it as a first language, in particular the children of parents or grandparents who originally spoke different languages (for example, a mother from Madang and a father from Rabaul). Ur ...
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