Mwerlap language
Page Module:Infobox/styles.css has no content.
| Mwerlap | |
|---|---|
| Merelava, Merlav | |
| Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Pronunciation | Script error: No such module "IPA". |
| Native to | Vanuatu |
| Region | Merelava, Gaua |
Native speakers | c. 1,100 (2012)Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mrm |
| Glottolog | merl1237 |
| ELP | Template:Endangered Languages Project |
| Linguasphere | Template:Infobox language/lingualist |
| Template:Infobox language/lingualist | |
| Template:Infobox language/lingualist | |
| Template:Infobox language/lingualist | |
| Template:Infobox language/lingualist | |
| Template:Infobox language/lingualist | |
| Template:Infobox language/lingualist | |
| Template:Infobox language/lingualist | |
| Template:Infobox language/lingualist | |
| Template:Infobox language/lingualist | |
| Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:InfoboxImage/data' not found. Mwerlap is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Page Template:Infobox/styles-images.css has no content.Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters".
Mwerlap is an Oceanic language spoken in the south of the Banks Islands in Vanuatu.
Its 1,100 speakers live mostly in Merelava and Merig, but a fair proportion have also settled on the east coast of Gaua island.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. 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.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
Name
The language is named after Mwerlap, the native name of Merelava island.
Phonology
Consonants
Mwerlap has 16 phonemic consonants.
| Labiovelar | Labial | Alveolar | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | kʷ ⟨q⟩ | p ⟨p⟩ | t ⟨t⟩ | k ⟨k⟩ |
| prenasal | ᵐb ⟨b⟩ | ⁿd ⟨d⟩ | |||
| Nasal | ŋʷ ⟨n̄w⟩ | m ⟨m⟩ | n ⟨n⟩ | ŋ ⟨n̄⟩ | |
| Fricative | v ~ β ⟨v⟩ | s ⟨s⟩ | ɣ ⟨g⟩ | ||
| Rhotic | r ⟨r⟩ | ||||
| Lateral | l ⟨l⟩ | ||||
| Approximant | w ⟨w⟩ | ||||
/v/ is also heard as [β] when geminated in syllable-initial position.
/s/ may also be heard as alveolo-palatal [ɕ] when in geminated positions.[1]
Vowels
Mwerlap has 12 phonemic vowels. These include 9 monophthongs Script error: No such module "IPA".,[1] and 3 diphthongs Script error: No such module "IPA"..Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
| Front | Central rounded |
Back | Diphthongs | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i ⟨i⟩ | ʉ ⟨u⟩ | (u) ⟨u⟩ | ||
| Near-close | ɪ ⟨ē⟩ | ɵ ⟨ö⟩ | ʊ ⟨ō⟩ | Script error: No such module "IPA". ⟨ōö⟩ | |
| Open-mid | ɛ ⟨e⟩ | ɞ ⟨ë⟩ | ɔ ⟨o⟩ | Script error: No such module "IPA". ⟨oë⟩ | |
| Open | a ⟨a⟩ | Script error: No such module "IPA". ⟨ea⟩ | |||
/ʉ/ may also be heard as back [u] among speakers.[1]
Grammar
The system of personal pronouns in Mwerlap contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes three numbers (singular, dual, plural).Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
| Singular | Dual | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | inclusive | no ~ në Script error: No such module "IPA".~Script error: No such module "IPA". | dōrō Script error: No such module "IPA". | gean Script error: No such module "IPA". |
| exclusive | kamar Script error: No such module "IPA". | kemem Script error: No such module "IPA". | ||
| 2nd | neak Script error: No such module "IPA". | kamrō Script error: No such module "IPA". | kemi Script error: No such module "IPA". | |
| 3rd | (ki)sean Script error: No such module "IPA". | karar Script error: No such module "IPA". | kear Script error: No such module "IPA". | |
Spatial reference in Mwerlap is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals.[2] That system is partly typical of Oceanic languages, and yet innovative.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
References
Page Template:Reflist/styles.css has no content.
Bibliography
- Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.François, Alexandre (2005). "Unraveling the history of the vowels of seventeen northern Vanuatu languages" (PDF). Oceanic Linguistics. 44 (2): 443–504. doi:10.1353/ol.2005.0034. S2CID 131668754.
- Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.—— (2011). "Social ecology and language history in the northern Vanuatu linkage: A tale of divergence and convergence" (PDF). Journal of Historical Linguistics. 1 (2): 175–246. doi:10.1075/jhl.1.2.03fra. hdl:1885/29283.
- Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.—— (2012). "The dynamics of linguistic diversity: Egalitarian multilingualism and power imbalance among northern Vanuatu languages" (PDF). International Journal of the Sociology of Language. 2012 (214): 85–110. doi:10.1515/ijsl-2012-0022. S2CID 145208588.
- Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.—— (2015). "The ins and outs of up and down: Disentangling the nine geocentric space systems of Torres and Banks languages" (PDF). In Alexandre François; Sébastien Lacrampe; Michael Franjieh; Stefan Schnell (eds.). The languages of Vanuatu: Unity and diversity. Studies in the Languages of Island Melanesia. Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics. pp. 137–195. hdl:1885/14819. ISBN 978-1-922185-23-5.
- Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.—— (2016). "The historical morphology of personal pronouns in northern Vanuatu" (PDF). In Pozdniakov, Konstantin (ed.). Comparatisme et reconstruction : tendances actuelles. Faits de Langues. Vol. 47. Bern: Peter Lang. pp. 25–60.
- Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Henri, Agnès (2023). "Éléments de description du mwerlap (langue du Nord-Vanuatu)". Lalies. 41: 157–221. doi:10.4000/1232y. Retrieved 2024-10-12.
External links
- Linguistic map of north Vanuatu, showing range of Mwerlap.
- Online material in Mwerlap (Merlav): audio recordings, documents, etc.
- Na Buk Tatar, Portions of the Book of Common Prayer in the Merelava (Mwerlap) language, digitized by Richard Mammana
- Audio recordings in the Mwerlap language, in open access, by A. François (source: Pangloss Collection, CNRS).
- Materials on Mwerlap are included in the open access Arthur Capell collections (AC1 and AC2) held by Paradisec.
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Navbox/configuration' not found. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Navbox/configuration' not found. Template:Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages
