Central Vanuatu languages explained

Central Vanuatu
Region:Vanuatu
Familycolor:Austronesian
Fam3:Oceanic
Fam4:Southern Oceanic
Glotto:cent2269
Glottorefname:Central Vanuatu

The Central Vanuatu languages form a linkage of Southern Oceanic languages spoken in central Vanuatu.

Languages

Clark (2009)

Clark (2009) provides the following classification of the Central Vanuatu languages, divided into geographic areas.[1] 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 and Ambrym–Paama–Epi languages.

Nasarian

North Ambrym, West Ambrym, South Ambrym

Southeast Ambrym, Paamese

Lewo, Lamen, Bierebo, Baki

Mkir, Bieria

Nakanamanga (Nguna); Namakir

South Efate

François et al. (2015)

The following list of 19 Central Vanuatu languages (excluding the Malakula languages) is from François et al. (2015:18–21).

No. Language Other names Speakers Region
107 5250 Ambrym
108 30 Ambrym
109 3700 Ambrym
110 1300 Ambrym
111 1200 Ambrym
112 1000 Ambrym
113 <10 Ambrym
114 6000 Paama
115 850 Epi, Lamen
116 2200 Epi
117 900 Epi
118 350 Epi
119 180 Epi
120 25 Epi
121 3750 Efate, Shepherd Islands (Tongoa, Tongariki)
123 9500 Efate, Shepherd Islands (Nguna, Tongoa)
124 400 Efate, Lelepa
125 500 Efate
126 6000 Efate

Additionally, the extinct Sowa language was formerly spoken in central Vanuatu.

References

  1. Book: Clark, Ross . 2009 . Leo Tuai: A comparative lexical study of North and Central Vanuatu languages . Canberra . Pacific Linguistics.