Lo-Toga language

Lo-Toga is an Oceanic language spoken on the Torres Islands of Vanuatu.^[2]

Situation and dialects

Its 580 speakers live mostly in Lo and Toga, the two main islands in the southern half of the Torres group. The same language is also spoken by the small populations of the two other islands of Linua and Tegua.

Lo-Toga is itself divided into two very close dialects, Lo (spoken on Lo island) and Toga (spoken on Toga). The name Toga has been used sometimes to refer to the whole language of Lo-Toga. Conversely, Lo-Toga is a distinct language from the other language of the Torres group, Hiw.

Phonology

The Lo dialect of Lo-Toga has 13 phonemic vowels. These include 8 monophthongs /i e ɛ a ə ɔ o ʉ/, and five diphthongs /i͡e i͡ɛ i͡a o͡ə o͡ɔ/.^[3]

References

Bibliography

• François, Alexandre (2005), "Unraveling the history of vowels in seventeen north Vanuatu languages", Oceanic Linguistics 44 (2): 443–504 
• François, Alexandre (2010), "Pragmatic demotion and clause dependency: On two atypical subordinating strategies in Lo-Toga and Hiw (Torres, Vanuatu)", in Bril, Isabelle, Clause hierarchy and Clause linking: The Syntax and Pragmatics interface, Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 499–548 
• François, Alexandre (2011), "Social ecology and language history in the northern Vanuatu linkage: A tale of divergence and convergence", Journal of Historical Linguistics 1 (2): 175–246, doi:10.1075/jhl.1.2.03fra 
• François, Alexandre (2012), "The dynamics of linguistic diversity: Egalitarian multilingualism and power imbalance among northern Vanuatu languages", International Journal of the Sociology of Language 214: 85–110, doi:10.1515/ijsl-2012-0022 

External links

• Linguistic map of north Vanuatu, showing range of Lo-Toga.
• Ne Vavatema Vivda Pah Tage Vivda Volquane Lema Rua Portions of the Book of Common Prayer in Toga (1907)