Mwotlap language
Mwotlap (pronounced [ŋ͡mʷɔtˈlap]; formerly known as Motlav) is an Oceanic language spoken by about 2,100 people,[1] on the island of Mota Lava (or Motalava), in the Banks Islands, in the northern part of Vanuatu.
Mwotlap belongs to the East Vanuatu languages, a branch of the Austronesian languages family.
Mwotlap was first described in 2001, by the linguist Alexandre François.
Phonology
Mwotlap has 7 phonemic vowels. These are 7 short monophthongs /i ɪ ɛ a ɔ ʊ u/.[2]
Notes
References
- François, Alexandre (2000), "Vowel shifting and cloning in Motlav: historical explanation vs. formal description", in Klamer, Marian, Proceedings of AFLA 7 (The Seventh Meeting of Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association), Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, pp. 49–68, http://alex.francois.free.fr/data/AlexFrancois_2000_MwotlapVowels.pdf
- François, Alexandre (2001), Contraintes de structures et liberté dans l'organisation du discours. Une description du mwotlap, langue océanienne du Vanuatu. PhD dissertation, Université Paris-IV Sorbonne. 1078 pp.
- François, Alexandre (2003), La sémantique du prédicat en mwotlap (Vanuatu), Collection Linguistique de la Société de Linguistique de Paris, Leuven-Paris: Peeters, ISBN 90-429-1271-5, http://www.peeters-leuven.be/boekoverz.asp?nr=7519
- François, Alexandre (2003), "Of men, hills and winds: Space directionals in Mwotlap", Oceanic Linguistics 42 (2): 407–437, http://alex.francois.free.fr/data/AlexFrancois_SpaceDirectionalsMwotlap_OL2003.pdf
- François, Alexandre (2006), "Serial verb constructions in Mwotlap", in Dixon, R.M.W.; Aikhenvald, Alexandra, Serial Verb Constructions: A cross-linguistic typology, Explorations in Linguistic Typology, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 223–238, http://alex.francois.free.fr/data/AlexFrancois_2005_SerialVerbs-Mwotlap_preprint.pdf
External links