East Vanuatu languages

Two dozen East Vanuatu languages form a group of Southern Oceanic languages.

Languages

A 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database^[1] included seven East Vanuatu languages. Three, the Paama–Ambrym languages, were found to form a separate family. The other four were fully supported as a unit, and fell into two branches:

• Maewo (Peterara) and Hano (Raga)
• Mota and Mwotlap

The languages traditionally included in East Vanuatu are,

• Alo-Teqel (extinct)
• Apma (aka Abma)
• Baetora
• Dakaka
• Dorig (aka Wetamut)
• East Ambae (aka Lolovoli)
• Hiw
• Koro
• Lakon (aka Lakona)
• Lehali
• Lonwolwol
• Lo-Toga (aka Toga)
• Löyöp (aka Lehalurup)
• Maewo (aka Peterara)
• Mota
• Mwerlap (aka Merlav)
• Mwesen (aka Mosina, Vurës)
• Mwotlap (aka Motlav)
• North Ambrym
• Nume
• Port Vato
• Raga (aka Hano)
• Sa
• Ske
• Sowa
• Sungwadia (aka Marino)
• Vera'a (aka Vatrata)
• West Ambae

It is not clear if these actually form a valid group.

Phonological, grammatical and lexical data on 17 of these languages (Torres and Banks Is) can be found in François (2005).

References

Bibliography

• François, Alexandre (2005), "Unraveling the history of the vowels of seventeen northern Vanuatu languages", Oceanic Linguistics 44 (2): 443–504, http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00524988/en/ 

External links

• Map and information on the 17 Torres & Banks languages.
• Na Ganigogona: A Liturgy for Melanesia in Maewo (c. 1975)