Tanema language

Tanema (Tetawo, Tetau) is a nearly extinct language of the island of Vanikoro, in the easternmost province of the Solomon Islands.

Tanema
Tetawo
Native to	Solomon Islands
Region	Vanikoro
Native speakers	1 (2012)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Temotu Vanikoro Tanema
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tnx
Glottolog	tane1237
ELP	Tanema
Tanema is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Vitality

Map of Vanikoro I., showing the historical territories of the three tribes of Lovono, Tanema and Teanu.^[2]

As of 2012, Tanema is only spoken by one speaker, Lainol Nalo.^[1][3] Like its neighbour Lovono, it has been replaced by Teanu, the main language of Vanikoro.

The late Emele Mamuli was a prolific storyteller who could speak fluently the three languages of Vanikoro: Teanu, Lovono and Tanema.^[4] She was one of the last speakers of Tanema.

The language

Some information on the languages of Vanikoro, including Tanema, can be found in François (2009) for the grammar, and François (2021) for the lexicon.^[5]