The nine South Vanuatu languages form a family of the
Southern Oceanic languages,
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 territoria ...
(
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
Erromango is the fourth largest island in the Vanuatu archipelago. With a land area of it is the largest island in Tafea Province, the southernmost of Vanuatu's six administrative regions.
Name
The endonym for Erromango in Erromangan is ''Nelo ...
, 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
Ifo is a Local Government Area in Ogun State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Ifo at .It has an area of and a population of 698,837 at the 2006 census "Adebami-Tella". The postal code of the area is 112.
Transportation
Ifo is conn ...
(Utaha)†,
Ura(See
Erromanga language#Linguistic situation for a description)
*Tanna family
**Southern:
Kwamera (South Tanna),
Southwest Tanna
**Northern:
Lenakel (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 Apri ...
: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, Indonesia ...
, 509.) Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
{{DEFAULTSORT:South Vanuatu Languages
Languages of Vanuatu
Southern Oceanic languages