Puneet Varma (Editor)

Central Vanuatu languages

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Geographicdistribution:
  
Vanuatu

Glottolog:
  
None

Linguistic classification:
  
AustronesianMalayo-PolynesianOceanicSouthern OceanicNortheast Vanuatu – Banks Islands (Clark 2009)Epi–Efate (Ross et al. 2002)Central Vanuatu

The languages of the Central Vanuatu family of the Efate Islands are part of the Southern Oceanic languages. The language are spoken in Shefa Province in central Vanuatu on the islands of Efate and the many small islands of the Shepherd Islands.

The main difference in recent classifications is the position of the languages within Oceanic and whether to include the South Efate language of the capital, Port Vila.

Languages

Lynch, Ross, & Crowley (2002) include just two languages:

  • Namakir (Makura language, Shepherds Islands )
  • Nakanamanga (North Efate language, North Efate)

    • Clark (2009) includes South Efate:

  • Namakir (Namakura)
  • Efate: South Efate, North Efate, Eton, Lelepa

    • (Ross et al. had counted Eton and Lelepa as dialects of the other languages.)

    According to Thieberger, Efatese is an artificial mixture of the languages of Efate.

    References

    Central Vanuatu languages Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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