The Central Vanuatu languages form a linkage of

Southern Oceanic languages The Southern Oceanic languages are a linkage (rather than family) of Oceanic languages spoken in Vanuatu and New Caledonia. It was proposed by John Lynch in 1995 and supported by later studies. It appears to be a linkage rather than a language ...

spoken in central

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

Languages

Clark (2009)

Clark (2009) provides the following classification of the Central Vanuatu languages, divided into geographic areas. Outlier (aberrant) languages identified by Clark (2009) are in ''italics''. Clark's Central Vanuatu branch is wider in scope, including not only the Shepherd–Efate languages, but also the

Malakula Malakula, also spelled Malekula, is the second-largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, formerly the New Hebrides, in Melanesia, a region of the Pacific Ocean. Location Malakula is separated from the islands of Espiritu Santo and Malo Island, Ma ...

and Ambrym–Paama–Epi languages. *Central Vanuatu **

Malakula languages The Malakula languages are a group of Central Vanuatu languages spoken on Malakula Island in central Vanuatu. Unlike some earlier classifications, linguist and Oceanic languages specialist John Lynch (2016) considered the Malakula languages to fo ...

*** Northeast Malakula (

Uripiv Uripiv is a small inhabited island in Malampa Province of Vanuatu in the Pacific Ocean. Uripiv lies off the north coast of Malekula Island. The estimated terrain elevation above the sea level is some 8 meters. Population As of 2015, the officia ...

), Vao, Vovo; '' Mpotovoro'' ***'' Dirak'', '' Malua Bay'' ***'' V’ënen Taut'', '' Tape'' ***'' Larevat'', '' Neve’ei'', '' Naman'' ***'' Navava'', '' Nevwervwer'' *** Unua- Pangkumu *** Banam Bay, Aulua *** Lendamboi; '' Nasarian'' *** Axamb, Avok, Maskelynes, Port Sandwich *** Sinesip, Naha’ai; '' Ninde'' **Ambrym–Paama– Epi area *** Ambrym Island: North Ambrym, West Ambrym, South Ambrym *** Paama Island: Southeast Ambrym, Paamese ***

Epi Island Epi (or Épi, Api; formerly known as Tasiko or Volcano Island) is an island in Shefa Province, Vanuatu, at the north end of the Shepherd Islands. The island is long northwest–southeast, and wide, with an area of . Its shoreline measures 13 ...

: Lewo, Lamen, Bierebo, Baki ***

: Mkir, Bieria **Shepherd–Efate area ***

Shepherd Islands The Shepherd Islands (coordinates ) are a group of islands lying between the larger islands of Epi and Éfaté, in the Shefa province of Vanuatu. The aggregate land area is . They were named by Captain Cook after Anthony Shepherd, a British as ...

: Nakanamanga (

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 ...

); '' Namakir'' *** Efate Island: South Efate

François et al. (2015)

The following list of 19 Central Vanuatu languages (excluding the

) is from François et al. (

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

:18–21). Additionally, the extinct

Sowa language Sowa was the original language of south-central Pentecost island in Vanuatu. In the 20th century it was totally displaced by Apma, a neighbouring language. Sowa was closely related to Ske, another south Pentecost language. Sowa was originally ...

was formerly spoken in central Vanuatu.

References

* . {{DEFAULTSORT:Central Vanuatu Languages Southern Oceanic languages Languages of Vanuatu