The Espiritu Santo languages (alternatively Santo languages) are a group of
North Vanuatu languages
The North Vanuatu languages form a Linkage (linguistics), linkage of Southern Oceanic languages spoken in northern Vanuatu.
Languages Clark (2009)
Clark (2009) provides the following classification of the North Vanuatu languages, divided into tw ...
spoken on
Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo (, ; ) is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census.
Geography
The island belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region o ...
Island in northern
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 ...
. Tryon (2010) considers the Espiritu Santo languages to be a coherent group.
Languages
Two lists of Espiritu Santo languages from Tryon (2010) and François (2015) are provided below.
Tryon (2010)
Tryon (2010) recognizes 33 living languages and 2 extinct languages. They are:
[Tryon, Darrell. 2010. The languages of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu. In John Bowden and Nikolaus P. Himmelmann and Malcolm Ross (eds.), ''A journey through Austronesian and Papuan linguistic and cultural space: papers in honour of Andrew K. Pawley'', 283-290. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.]
François (2015)
The following list of 38 Espiritu Santo languages is from
Alexandre 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).
Lynch (2019)
John Lynch (2019)
proposes the following classification scheme for the Espiritu Santo languages, with the development of bilabial consonants to
linguolabials as the primary marker of the "Nuclear Santo" group:
* Espiritu Santo
** West Santo Group
*** Cape Cumberland: Hukua,
Vunapu,
Piamatsina ''(uncertain)'',
Valpei,
Nokuku,
Tasmate
***
Wusi
*** Central Santo:
Merei-Tiale, Okula
***
Kiai
*** Southwest Santo:
Akei,
Wailapa
*** South-Central Santo ''(Lynch: "possibly three dialects")''
*** ''Outlier:
Tolomako''
** Nuclear Santo Group
*** South Santo Group
****
Tangoa
****
Araki
Araki may refer to:
People
* Araki (surname) (荒木)
* Hirohiko Araki (荒木 飛呂彦), a Japanese manga artist, fashion designer and illustrator
* Nobuyoshi Araki (荒木 経惟), a Japanese photographer and contemporary artist also known by t ...
****
Mav'ea
****
Tutuba
****
Aore
Aore Island is an island in Sanma Province, Vanuatu. It is located opposite Luganville on Espiritu Santo and has an area of 58 km2. The estimated terrain elevation above sea level is some 89 meters.
Aore's climate is humid tropical. The aver ...
****
Tamambo
**** ''Outlier:
Mores''
*** East Santo Group
**** Shark Bay:
Shark Bay I, Shark Bay II,
Lorediakarkar
Nethalp, or Lorediakarkar, is a language of the East Santo languages, a group of languages in the Austronesian family of Languages. It is spoken by about 340 people out of an ethnic population of 850 on Espiritu Santo Island in Vanuatu
Va ...
**** Southeast Santo:
Butmas-Tur,
Polonombauk,
Tambotalo
**** ''Outlier:
Sakao''
References
* .
{{Austronesian languages
Languages of Vanuatu
*