Koro is an
Oceanic language spoken on
Gaua island in
Vanuatu. Its 280 speakers live in the village of
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 spoken ...
, on the south coast of Gaua.
Koro is a distinct language from its immediate neighbours,
Dorig (300 sp.) and
Olrat (4 sp.).
Name
The name ''Koro'', spelled natively as ''Kōrō'' , is an endonym referring to the village.
Phonology
Koro has 8
phonemic vowels. These include 7
monophthongs and one
diphthong
A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech o ...
.
The diphthong is spelled as .
Grammar
The system of
personal pronouns in Koro contrasts
clusivity, and distinguishes four
numbers (singular,
dual
Dual or Duals may refer to:
Paired/two things
* Dual (mathematics), a notion of paired concepts that mirror one another
** Dual (category theory), a formalization of mathematical duality
*** see more cases in :Duality theories
* Dual (grammatical ...
,
trial, plural).
Spatial reference in Koro 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).]
Notes and references
References
Bibliography
*
* .
*
*
*
*
External links
Linguistic map of north Vanuatu, showing range of Koro on Gaua
Audio recordings in the Koro language in open access, by
A. François ('' Pangloss Collection'').
Languages of Vanuatu
Banks–Torres languages
Torba Province
Definitely endangered languages
{{SOceanic-lang-stub