Lemerig language

Lemerig is an Oceanic language spoken on Vanua Lava, in Vanuatu.

Lemerig
Pak, Päk, Sasar
Pronunciation	[lɪmɪˈriɣ]
Native to	Vanuatu
Region	Vanua Lava
Native speakers	2 (2010)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southern Oceanic North-Central Vanuatu North Vanuatu Torres-Banks Lemerig
Dialects	Alo-Teqel Päk Sasar
Language codes
ISO 639-3	lrz
Glottolog	leme1238
ELP	Lemerig
Lemerig is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

One of the two remaining speakers of Lemerig, a man from the village of Lalngetak, speaking the Päk dialect, recorded in Vanua Lava, Vanuatu.

The language is no longer actively spoken, having receded in favour of its neighbors, including Vera'a and possibly also Mwotlap or Vurës.^[1] The two remaining speakers live on the northern coast of the island.^[2]

Name

The name Lemerig refers to a now abandoned village in northern Vanua Lava; it is spelled Lēmērig [lɪmɪˈriɣ] in the language of the same name. It reflects an earlier Proto-Torres-Banks form *lemeriɣi, where the *riɣi component likely means "small".

Dialects

Lemerig has sometimes been referred to using the names of its local varieties: Päk,^[a] Sasar, and Alo-Teqel.

Judging from wordlists published by missionary and linguist Robert Codrington,^[3] these three varieties were very close to each other. The little differences there were went extinct during the 20th century.

Phonology

Lemerig has 11 phonemic vowels. These are all short monophthongs /i ɪ ɛ æ a œ ø ɒ̝ ɔ ʊ u/.^[4][5]

Lemerig vowels

	Front		Back
	plain	round
Close	i ⟨i⟩		u ⟨u⟩
Near-close	ɪ ⟨ē⟩	ø ⟨ö⟩	ʊ ⟨ō⟩
Open-mid	ɛ ⟨e⟩	œ ⟨ë⟩	ɔ ⟨o⟩
Near-open	æ ⟨ä⟩		ɒ̝ ⟨ā⟩
Open	a ⟨a⟩

Grammar

The system of personal pronouns in Lemerig contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes four numbers (singular, dual, trial, and plural).^[6]

Spatial reference in Lemerig is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals, which is in part typical of Oceanic languages, in part innovative.^[7]

Notes

1. Päk [pæk] is a village on the north coast of Vanua Lava island, today often referred to using its Mwotlap name Abek [aᵐbɛk] (with locative). Due to its vowel [æ] (potentially ambiguous to Western ears), the original name in Lemerig was spelled Pak in Codrington 1885 (pp.39 sqq), but Pek in Codrington 1891 (p.81).