The nine South Vanuatu languages form a family of the
Southern Oceanic languages
The Southern Oceanic languages are a linkage of Oceanic languages spoken in Vanuatu and New Caledonia. It was proposed by Lynch, Ross, and Crowley in 2002 and supported by later studies. They consider it to be a linkage rather than a language ...
,
spoken in
Tafea Province
Tafea is the southernmost of the six provinces of Vanuatu.
The name is an acronym for the five main islands that make up the province: Tanna, Aneityum, Futuna, Erromango and Aniwa.
History
Unlike the other provinces of Vanuatu, the territo ...
(
Tanna,
Aneityum
Aneityum (also known as Anatom or Keamu) is the southernmost island of Vanuatu, in the province of Tafea.
Geography
Aneityum is the southernmost island of Vanuatu (not counting the Matthew and Hunter Islands, which are disputed with New Caledoni ...
,
Futuna,
Erromango, and
Aniwa) of
Vanuatu
Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...
.
Languages
*Erromango family
**Southern:
Sie,
Sorung†
**Northern:
Ifo (Utaha)†,
Ura(See
Erromanga language#Linguistic situation for a description)
*Tanna family
**Southern:
Kwamera (South Tanna),
Southwest Tanna
**Northern:
Lenakel
Lenakel is the largest town on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu. It has a population of 1,473.
It is located on the west coast of the island near the administrative capital of Isangel and serves as a major port of entry.
Language
It is the cent ...
(West Tanna),
Whitesands
Whitesands or White Sands is a village on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu.
Located on the southeast side of the island near Sulphur Bay, the area is a center of the indigenous Whitesands language and the John Frum cargo cult
A cargo cult ...
(Weasisi, East Tanna),
North Tanna
*Aneityum
**
Aneityum
Aneityum (also known as Anatom or Keamu) is the southernmost island of Vanuatu, in the province of Tafea.
Geography
Aneityum is the southernmost island of Vanuatu (not counting the Matthew and Hunter Islands, which are disputed with New Caledoni ...
(Anejom̃)
François (2015)
François (
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...
:18-21) lists the following names and locations for the 9 South Vanuatu languages.
Proto-South Vanuatu
Proto-South Vanuatu was reconstructed by John Lynch in 2001.
The language, compared to Proto-Oceanic, went through a series of vowel reductions, leading to the creation of a new vowel written as *ə, such as in ''*na-waiR'' "fresh water" resulting in Proto-South Vanuatu ''*nə-wai'' of the same meaning.
However, it also preserves some, but not all final consonants. For example, ''*tanum'' "to plant, bury" is reflected in Proto-South Vanuatu as ''*(a)-tenum'' "to bury", but ''*taŋis'' "to cry" is instead reflected as ''*(a)-taŋi''.
Vowels
The vowels of Proto-South Vanuatu, according to Lynch, are:
Consonants
The consonants of Proto-South Vanuatu, according to Lynch, are:
:
References
* .
*Lynch, John. 2001. ''The linguistic history of southern Vanuatu''. (
Pacific Linguistics
Pacific Linguistics was established in 1963 as a non-profit publisher at the Australian National University, Canberra, publishing linguistic books (such as grammars and dictionaries) on the languages of Oceania, the Pacific, Australia, Indones ...
, 509.) Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
{{DEFAULTSORT:South Vanuatu Languages
Languages of Vanuatu
Southern Oceanic languages