Mwerlap language

Austronesian language spoken in Vanuatu From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mwerlap is an Oceanic language spoken in the south of the Banks Islands in Vanuatu.

Quick Facts Pronunciation, Native to ...
Mwerlap
Merelava, Merlav
N̄wërlap
Pronunciation[ŋʷɞrˈlap]
Native toVanuatu
RegionMerelava, Gaua
Native speakers
ca. 1,100 (2012)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3mrm
Glottologmerl1237
Thumb
Mwerlap is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
Close

Its 1,100 speakers live mostly in Merelava and Merig, but a fair proportion have also settled on the east coast of Gaua island.[2] Besides, a number of Mwerlap speakers live in the two cities of Vanuatu, Port Vila and Luganville.

The language has been studied by Alexandre François, and more recently by Agnès Henri.[3]

Name

The language is named after Mwerlap, the native name of Merelava island.

Phonology

Mwerlap has 12 phonemic vowels. These include 9 monophthongs /i ɪ ɛ ʉ ɵ ɞ ʊ ɔ a/,[4] and 3 diphthongs /ɛ͡a ɔ͡ɞ ʊ͡ɵ/.[5]

More information Front, Central rounded ...
Mwerlap vowels
Front Central
rounded
Back Diphthongs
Close i iʉ u
Near-close ɪ ēɵ öʊ ōʊ͡ɵ ōö
Open-mid ɛ eɞ ëɔ oɔ͡ɞ
Open a aɛ͡a ea
Close

Grammar

The system of personal pronouns in Mwerlap contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes three numbers (singular, dual, plural).[6]

More information Singular, Dual ...
Independent pronouns in Mwerlap[7]
SingularDualPlural
1stinclusive no ~ në /nɔ/~/nœ/dōrō /ⁿdʊrʊ/gean /ɣɛ͡an/
exclusive kamar /kamar/kemem /kɛmɛm/
2nd neak /nɛ͡ak/kamrō /kamrʊ/kemi /kɛmi/
3rd (ki)sean /(ki)sɛ͡an/karar /karar/kear /kɛ͡ar/
Close

Spatial reference in Mwerlap is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals.[8] That system is partly typical of Oceanic languages, and yet innovative.[9]

References

Bibliography

Loading related searches...

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.