Name
The name ''Vitu'' is an endonym and exonym, endonym. The alternative name, ''Muduapa'', is an exonym from the neighboring Uneapa language, Uneapa (or Bali) language spoken on Bali Island, which is in Vitu known as ''Mudua'', referring to an island northwest of Vitu proper. ''Mudua'' and ''Muduapa'' can come from a proto-form ''*Muduap'', reflecting the addition of an echo vowel in Bali and the regular loss of final consonants in Vitu.Classification
Vitu and Bali form a subgroup within the Meso-Melanesian languages, Meso-Melanesian cluster of the Oceanic languages. Vitu is so closely related to the neighbouring Uneapa language, Uneapa (or Bali) language that the two are sometimes considered to be a single language, called Bali-Vitu. However, there are some differences, particularly in their phonemic inventories, retention of final consonants (which is lost in Vitu), pronoun systems, and word choices. In general, Bali tends to be more conservative than Vitu in most respects.Phonology
Vowels
Consonants
is realized as before . occurs only in loanwords from Tok Pisin, such as ''sikul'' "school".Phonotactics
No consonant clusters or final consonants are allowed in native Vitu words: all syllables have a CV or V structure. Loanwords, however, may have different structures.Writing system
Vitu is written in the Latin script. Only between 15% and 25% of speakers of Vitu are literacy, literate in the language, but many more are literate in Tok Pisin, the national language of Papua New Guinea.Grammar
Morphology
Complex Voice (grammar), voice systems so characteristic of Austronesian languages of Taiwan and the Philippines undergo significant reduction in most Austronesian languages of Eastern Indonesia and Oceania. Vitu is unusual in terms of morphology when compared to most other Oceanic languages spoken in Melanesia. It is one of very few Melanesian languages that have a passive voice-marking system.Syntax
The usual word order of Vitu is subject–verb–object, SVO.References
* * *External links