Mwerlap language

Mwerlap
Merelava, Merlav
N̄wërlap
Pronunciation[ŋʷɞrˈlap]
Native toVanuatu
RegionMerelava, Gaua
Native speakers
ca. 1,100 (2012)
Language codes
ISO 639-3mrm
Glottologmerl1237
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.

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. Besides, a number of Mwerlap speakers live in the two cities of Vanuatu, Port Vila and Luganville.

Name

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

Phonology

Mwerlap has 12 phonemic vowels. These include 9 monophthongs /iɪɛʉɵɞʊɔa/, and 3 diphthongs /ɛ͡aɔ͡ɞʊ͡ɵ/.

Mwerlap vowels
Front Central
rounded
Back Diphthongs
Close i ⟨i⟩ ʉ ⟨u⟩
Near-close ɪ ⟨ē⟩ ɵ ⟨ö⟩ ʊ ⟨ō⟩ ʊ͡ɵ ⟨ōö⟩
Open-mid ɛ ⟨e⟩ ɞ ⟨ë⟩ ɔ ⟨o⟩ ɔ͡ɞ ⟨oë⟩
Open a ⟨a⟩ ɛ͡a ⟨ea⟩

Grammar

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

Spatial reference in Mwerlap is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals, which is in part typical of Oceanic languages, and yet innovative.


This page was last updated at 2023-12-22 06:32 UTC. Update now. View original page.

All our content comes from Wikipedia and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.


Top

If mathematical, chemical, physical and other formulas are not displayed correctly on this page, please useFirefox or Safari