Natamata
Natamata (a Bislama name derived from vernacular words such as Raga / East Ambae ''tamata'' and Apma ''temwat'') is a concept underlying the social fabric of traditional communities in north-eastern Vanuatu. The concept has no exact equivalent in Western culture and law. It is sometimes translated as "peace", though "harmony" is probably a closer translation.Gray, Andrew. 2013. ''The Languages of Pentecost Island''. British Friends of Vanuatu Society. The concept encompasses social and spiritual harmony, and the set of unwritten customary laws by which this harmony is maintained. Maintaining ''natamata'' is the responsibility of customary chiefs. It is believed that when a transgression is committed by a member of the community, ''natamata'' is broken, and must be restored, usually by the paying of fines to the chief and to the person who was wronged. References to ''natamata'' are common in personal names and place names, such as the Penama Penama is one of the six provinces o ...
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Bislama
Bislama (; ; also known by its earlier French name, ) is an English-based creole language and one of the official languages of Vanuatu. It 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; though 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 grammar and phonology. History During the period of "blackbirding" in the 1870s and 1880s, hundreds of tho ...
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Raga Language
Raga (also known as Hano) is the language of northern Pentecost Island in Vanuatu. Like all Vanuatu languages, Raga belongs to the Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian languages family. In old sources the language is sometimes referred to by the names of villages in which it is spoken, such as Bwatvenua (Qatvenua), Lamalanga, Vunmarama and Loltong. It is the most conservative language of Pentecost Island, having preserved final vowels while also retaining the five-vowel system inherited from Proto-Oceanic, compared to other languages spoken on the island, which have all developed additional vowels in addition to pervasive vowel deletion. With an estimated 6,500 native speakers (in the year 2000), Raga is the second most widely spoken of Pentecost's five native languages (after Apma), and the seventh largest vernacular in Vanuatu as a whole. There are significant communities of Raga speakers on Maewo island and in Port Vila and Luganville as a result of emigration from Pentecost. ...
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East Ambae Language
East Ambae (also known as ''Omba'', ''Oba'', ''Aoba'', ''Walurigi'', ''Lolovoli'', ''Northeast Aoba'', and ''Northeast Ambae'') is an Oceanic language spoken on Ambae, Vanuatu. The data in this article will concern itself with the Lolovoli dialect of the North-East Ambae language. Phonology North-East Ambae distinguishes 5 vowels and 16 consonants, shown in the tables below. Morphosyntax Pronominals In Ambae there are four different pronominal forms, one set of free forms, independent pronouns and three sets of bound forms, subject proclitics, object enclitics and possessive suffixes. All sets of pronominals distinguish between singular, dual and plural and between inclusive and exclusive in the first person. Independent pronouns are preceded by the personal article when the head of a noun phrase. Independent pronouns Subject proclitics The subject proclitic is the first part of a verb phrase and can attach to an aspect, mood, negative particle or verb head. Du ...
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Apma Language
Apma (or Abma) is the language of central Pentecost island in Vanuatu. Apma is an Oceanic language (a branch of the Austronesian language family). Within Vanuatu it sits between North Vanuatu and Central Vanuatu languages, and combines features of both groups. With an estimated 7,800 native speakers (in the year 2000), Apma is the most widely spoken of Pentecost's native languages, and the fifth largest vernacular in Vanuatu as a whole. In recent times Apma has spread at the expense of other indigenous languages such as Sowa and Ske. Apma is increasingly mixed with words and expressions from Bislama, Vanuatu's national language. Name of the language Like Pentecost's other languages, Apma is named after the local word for "what" or "something". Locally it is usually referred to simply as "language" or "our language". Many people from other areas of Vanuatu recognise the language by the catchphrase meaning "good" or "OK", or refer informally to its speakers as , an Apma ter ...
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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 ...
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Penama
Penama is one of the six provinces of Vanuatu, located in the northeast of the country and consisting of three major islands: * Ambae (or Aoba) * Maewo * Pentecost The name Penama is derived from the initial letters of PENtecost, Ambae and MAewo. Population It has a population of 30,819 (2009 census) people and an area of 1,198 km2. Its capital is Saratamata Saratamata is the capital of Penama Province of the island country of Vanuatu.Saratamata ca. 150 m