Dorig (formerly called ''Wetamut'') is an Oceanic language spoken on Gaua island in

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 ...

. The language’s 300 speakers live mostly in the village of Dorig (), on the south coast of Gaua. Smaller speaker communities can be found in the villages of Qteon (east coast) and Qtevut (west coast). Dorig's immediate neighbours are

Koro Koro may refer to: Geography *Koro Island, a Fijian island * Koro Sea, in the Pacific Ocean * Koro, Ivory Coast *Koro, Mali * Koro, Wisconsin, United States, an unincorporated community Languages *Koro language (India), an endangered language spo ...

and Mwerlap.

Name

The name ''Dorig'', spelled ''Dōrig'', is derived from the name of the village where it is spoken. The term is related to ''Dōlav'' (the Dorig name of a village that is called in Lakon as ''Jōlap'' ), with the ''-rig'' and ''-lav'' parts meaning "small" and "big" respectively. The element ''dō'' is obscure; hence the only term that can be reconstructed for Proto-Torres-Banks is ''*-riɣi''.

Phonology

Dorig has 8

phonemic In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west o ...

vowels. These include 7 short

monophthong A monophthong ( ; , ) is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation. The monophthongs can be contrasted with diphthongs, wh ...

s and one long vowel . Dorig has 15 consonant phonemes. The

phonotactic Phonotactics (from Ancient Greek "voice, sound" and "having to do with arranging") is a branch of phonology that deals with restrictions in a language on the permissible combinations of phonemes. Phonotactics defines permissible syllable struc ...

template for a

syllable A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological "bu ...

in Dorig is: — e.g. ‘woman’; ‘poor’; ‘octopus’. Remarkably, the consonant clusters of these syllables are not constrained by the

Sonority Sequencing Principle The Sonority Sequencing Principle (SSP)Selkirk, E. (1984). On the major class features and syllable theory. In Aronoff & Oehrle (eds.) Language Sound Structure: Studies in Phonology. Cambridge: MIT Press. 107-136.Clements, G. N. (1990). The role of ...

Grammar

The system of

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 dif ...

s in Dorig contrasts

clusivity In linguistics, clusivity is a grammatical distinction between ''inclusive'' and ''exclusive'' first-person pronouns and verbal morphology, also called ''inclusive " we"'' and ''exclusive "we"''. Inclusive "we" specifically includes the addressee ...

, and distinguishes four

numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...

(singular, dual,

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of Party (law), parties to a :wikt:dispute, dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence (law), evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate claims or d ...

, plural). Spatial reference is based on a system of geocentric (

absolute Absolute may refer to: Companies * Absolute Entertainment, a video game publisher * Absolute Radio, (formerly Virgin Radio), independent national radio station in the UK * Absolute Software Corporation, specializes in security and data risk manage ...

) directionals, which is typical of

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 ...

. François (2015).

References

Bibliography

* * * . * * * *

External links

Linguistic map of north Vanuatu, showing range of Dorig on Gaua

Audio recordings in Dorig language
in open access, by A. François (source: ''

Pangloss Collection The Pangloss Collection is a digital library whose objective is to store and facilitate access to audio recordings in endangered languages of the world. Developed by the LACITO centre of CNRS in Paris, the collection provides free online access to ...

'').
A story in Dorig, with audio recording and translation
Languages of Vanuatu Banks–Torres languages Torba Province Definitely endangered languages {{SOceanic-lang-stub