Native to Vanuatu Native speakers 500 (2012) Glottolog vera1241 | Region Vanua Lava ISO 639-3 vra | |
Language family Austronesian
Malayo-Polynesian
Oceanic
Southern Oceanic
Vanuatu
Northern Vanuatu
East Vanuatu
Vera'a | ||
Vera’a (or Vatrata) is a language of Vanua Lava Island in Vanuatu.
Contents
Phonology
Vera’a has 7 phonemic vowels, which are all short monophthongs:
Recent history
According to recently recorded oral local history, Vanua Lava was struck by a major earthquake and landslide in 1945 that devastated gardens and hamlets on its north-west coast, as a result of which the Vera'a community abandoned its previous settlements and resettled to its current main center of residence, the village of Vera'a (Vatrata). Vera'a is located about 4km from the village of Vetuboso, the largest settlement on Vanua Lava that is inhabit mainly by speakers of the closely related language Vurës.
Together with speakers of Vera'a, speakers of the now moribund language Lemerig moved to the village of Vera'a. Lemerig is remembered by many residents of Vera'a, but is no longer used in everyday communication. It is likely that the now de facto loss of the Lemerig language is the result of natural disaster and subsequent resettlement movements.