North Efate, also known as Nakanamanga or Nguna, is an

Oceanic language 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 ...

spoken on the northern area of

Efate Efate (french: Éfaté) is an island in the Pacific Ocean which is part of the Shefa Province in Vanuatu. It is also known as Île Vate. Geography It is the most populous (approx. 66,000) island in Vanuatu. Efate's land area of makes it Vanu ...

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 ...

, as well as on a number of islands off the northern coast – including

Nguna Nguna Island is an outer island off the north coast of Efate, Vanuatu in Undine Bay. It is neighbored to the east by Pele Island and to the west by Moso Island. Geography The island is bisected by two extinct volcano craters, the highest of ...

, and parts of

Tongoa Tongoa Island is an inhabited island in Shefa Province of Vanuatu in the Pacific Ocean. Geography Tongoa is the largest island of Shepherd Islands archipelago. The island is heavily vegetated and shows geothermal activity. Tongoa is of recent vol ...

Emae Emae is an island in the Shepherd Islands, Shefa, Vanuatu. Geography Maunga Lasi is the highest peak at 644 m. It forms the northern rim of the (mostly) underwater volcano of Makura, which also covers the nearby islands of Makura and Mataso. I ...

and Epi. The population of speakers is recorded to be 9,500. This makes Nakanamanga one of the largest languages of Vanuatu, an archipelago known for having the world's highest linguistic density.

Phonology

The consonant and vowels sounds of North Efate (Nguna). Subdialects of North Efate include: * Buninga * Emau * Livara * Nguna * Paunangis * Sesake Typology follows Subject Object Verb order as is observed in Nguna

References

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Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Efate, North Central Vanuatu languages Languages of Vanuatu