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Mwerlap
Mwerlap is an Oceanic language spoken in the south of the Banks Islands in Vanuatu. Its 1,100 speakers live mostly in Merelava and Merig, but a fair proportion have also settled the east coast of Gaua island.François (2012: 97). Besides, a number of Mwerlap speakers live in the two cities of Vanuatu, Port Vila and Luganville. Name The language is named after ''Mwerlap'', the native name of Merelava island. Phonology Mwerlap has 12 phonemic vowels. These include 9 monophthongs and 3 diphthongs . Grammar The system of personal pronouns in Mwerlap contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes three numbers (singular, dual, plural). Spatial reference in Mwerlap is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals, which is in part typical of Oceanic languages, and yet innovative. François (2015:) 173-175). References Bibliography * * . * * * External linksLinguistic map of north Vanuatu, showing range of MwerlapOnline material in Mwerlap (Merlav) audio recordings, docum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merelava
Merelava (or ''Mere Lava'') is an island in the Banks Islands of the Torba Province of northern Vanuatu. Names The inhabitants of Merelava call their own island ''Mwerlap'', more accurately ''N̄wërlap'' . The name ''Merelava'' or ''M̄ere Lava'' reflects the way it is called in the neighbouring Mota language ‒ phonetically . According to Codrington, the etymology of this name (in Proto-Torres-Banks) is likely to be *''mʷera lava'', literally “the big boy”; it contrasts with the neighbouring island M̄erig , from *''mʷera riɣi'' “the small boy”. These words refer metaphorically to the islands themselves. Geography Merelava is situated in the southeastern part of the archipelago near Mota and Merig. Merelava has also been known as ''Star Island''. It is located about east of Gaua. Merelava is a nearly round volcanic island with a diameter of almost 4.5 km and an area of 18 km2. It is formed by a basaltic stratovolcano, which reaches in Mount Teu, also c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merig
Merig is a small island located east of Gaua, in the Banks Islands of northern Vanuatu. The island is about wide, and has a circumference of . Name The name ''Merig'' comes from the Mota language. It comes from a Proto-Torres-Banks form *''mʷera riɣi'' "the small boy" via haplology to ''*mʷeriɣi''. It contrasts with Merelava, from *''mʷera lava'' "the big boy". The native term in Mwerlap is ''N̄wërig'' , from the same etymon. History The first recorded sighting of Merig Island by Europeans was by the Spanish expedition of Pedro Fernández de Quirós on 25 April 1606. It was then named ''Île Sainte Claire''. Population Merig is only inhabited by one household, consisting of 12 individuals. They speak Mwerlap,. the language of the neighbouring island Merelava Merelava (or ''Mere Lava'') is an island in the Banks Islands of the Torba Province of northern Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaua
Gaua (formerly known as ''Santa Maria Island'') is the largest and second most populous of the Banks Islands in Torba Province in northern Vanuatu. It covers 342 km². History Gaua was first sighted by Europeans during the Spanish expedition of Pedro Fernández de Quirós, from 25 to 29 April 1606. The island’s name was then charted as ''Santa María''. Geography Gaua is subject to frequent earthquakes and cyclones. The climate is humid tropical; the average annual rainfall exceeds 3500 mm. It has rugged terrain, reaching up to Mount Gharat (797 m), the peak of the active stratovolcano which lies at the center of the island. Its most recent eruption was in 2013. The volcano has a 6 × 9 km caldera, within which lies a crater lake, known as Lake Letas, which is the largest lake in Vanuatu. To the east of the lake is Siri Waterfall (120 m drop). Natural history The upper slopes of the island have been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by Bir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torres–Banks Languages
The Torres–Banks languages form a linkage of Southern Oceanic languages spoken in the Torres Islands and Banks Islands of northern Vanuatu. Languages François (2011) recognizes 17 languages spoken by 9,400 people in 50 villages, including 16 living (3 of which are moribund) and one extinct language. François (2011). The 17 languages, ranked from northwest to southeast, are: : Comparative studies A. François has published several studies comparing various features of the Torres–Banks languages: * François (2005): Inventories of vowel systems, and their historical development; * François (2007): Systems of noun articles, and their historical development; * François (2009): How several languages grammaticalized a set of light personal pronouns into markers for “aorist” aspect; * François (2011): How Torres–Banks languages tend to show structural isomorphism, yet lexical diversity; * François (2013): Etymological reconstruction of spiritual terms in Torres–B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Banks Islands
The Banks Islands (in Bislama ''Bankis'') are a group of islands in northern Vanuatu. Together with the Torres Islands to their northwest, they make up the northernmost province of Torba. The island group lies about north of Maewo, and includes Gaua and Vanua Lava, two of the 13 largest islands in Vanuatu. In 2009, the islands had a population of 8,533. The island group's combined land area is 780 km2. Geography The largest island is Gaua (formerly called Santa Maria), which has a rugged terrain, rising to Mount Gharat, an active volcano at the centre of the island, at . Gaua's freshwater Lake Letas, in its volcanic crater, is the largest lake in Vanuatu. A slightly smaller island in the group, Vanua Lava, is higher, at ; it too has an active volcano: Mount Suretamate (also spelled Süretimiat or Sere'ama, ). To the east of Vanua Lava are two islets in the groupo, Ravenga and Kwakea (also spelled Qakea). Sola, the provincial capital, is on Vanua Lava. The third largest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Vanuatu Languages
The North Vanuatu languages form a Linkage (linguistics), linkage of Southern Oceanic languages spoken in northern Vanuatu. Languages Clark (2009) Clark (2009) provides the following classification of the North Vanuatu languages, divided into two main geographic areas (Torres–Banks–Maewo–Ambae–Pentecost and Espiritu Santo, Santo). Outlier (aberrant) languages identified by Clark (2009) are in ''italics''.The language names used by Clark have often been superseded by other names; in that case, the glottonym used by Clark is indicated in brackets. *North Vanuatu **Northern (Torres–Banks–Maewo–Ambae–Pentecost) ***Torres–Banks languages ****Torres Islands: Hiw language, Hiw, Lo-Toga language, Lo-Toga (“Loh”) ****Banks Islands: Lehali language, Lehali–Löyöp language, Löyöp (“Ureparapara”), Mwotlap language, Mwotlap–Volow language, Volow (“Mwotlav”), Lemerig language, Lemerig–Vera'a language, Vera’a (“Vera'a”), Vurës language, Vurës–Mwe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Close Vowel
A close vowel, also known as a high vowel (in U.S. terminology), is any in a class of vowel sounds used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth as it can be without creating a constriction. A constriction would produce a sound that would be classified as a consonant. The term "close" is recommended by the International Phonetic Association. Close vowels are often referred to as "high" vowels, as in the Americanist phonetic tradition, because the tongue is positioned high in the mouth during articulation. In the context of the phonology of any particular language, a ''high vowel'' can be any vowel that is more close than a mid vowel. That is, close-mid vowels, near-close vowels, and close vowels can all be considered high vowels. Partial list The six close vowels that have dedicated symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet are: * close front unrounded vowel * c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Near-close Vowel
A near-close vowel or a near-high vowel is any in a class of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a near-close vowel is that the tongue is positioned similarly to a close vowel, but slightly less constricted. Other names for a near-close vowel are lowered close vowel and raised close-mid vowel, though the former phrase may also be used to describe a vowel that is as low as close-mid (sometimes even lower); likewise, the latter phrase may also be used to describe a vowel that is as high as close. Near-close vowels are also sometimes described as lax variants of the fully close vowels, though, depending on the language, they may not necessarily be ''variants'' of close vowels at all. It is rare for languages to contrast a near-close vowel with a close vowel and a close-mid vowel based on height alone. An example of such language is Danish, which contrasts short and long versions of the close front unrounded , near-close front unrounded and c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Open-mid Vowel
An open-mid vowel (also mid-open vowel, low-mid vowel, mid-low vowel or half-open vowel) is any in a class of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of an open-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned one third of the way from an open vowel to a close vowel. Partial list The open-mid vowels that have dedicated symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet are: * open-mid front unrounded vowel * open-mid front rounded vowel * open-mid central unrounded vowel (older publications may use ) * open-mid central rounded vowel (older publications may use ) * open-mid back unrounded vowel * open-mid back rounded vowel The open-mid back rounded vowel, or low-mid back rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . The IPA symbol is a turned letter ''c'' a ... Other open-mid vowels can be indicated with diacritics of relative articulati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Open Vowel
An open vowel is a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels (in U.S. terminology ) in reference to the low position of the tongue. In the context of the phonology of any particular language, a ''low vowel'' can be any vowel that is more open than a mid vowel. That is, open-mid vowels, near-open vowels, and open vowels can all be considered low vowels. Partial list The open vowels with dedicated symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet are: * open front unrounded vowel * open front rounded vowel This vowel is not known to occur as a phoneme distinct from in any language. * open back unrounded vowel * open back rounded vowel There also are central vowels that do not have dedicated symbols in the IPA: * open central unrounded vowel or (commonly written as if it were front) * open central rounded vowel There is no unambiguous way of transcribing the open central ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east of New Guinea, southeast of the Solomon Islands, and west of Fiji. Vanuatu was first inhabited by Melanesian people. The first Europeans to visit the islands were a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator 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 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. An independence movement arose in the 1970s, and the Republic of Vanuatu was fou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Personal Pronoun
Personal pronouns are pronouns that are associated primarily with a particular grammatical person – first person (as ''I''), second person (as ''you''), or third person (as ''he'', ''she'', ''it'', ''they''). Personal pronouns may also take different forms depending on number (usually singular or plural), grammatical or natural gender, case, and formality. The term "personal" is used here purely to signify the grammatical sense; personal pronouns are not limited to people and can also refer to animals and objects (as the English personal pronoun ''it'' usually does). The re-use in some languages of one personal pronoun to indicate a second personal pronoun with formality or social distance – commonly a second person plural to signify second person singular formal – is known as the T–V distinction, from the Latin pronouns and . Examples are the majestic plural in English and the use of in place of in French. For specific details of the personal pronouns used in the Eng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
