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Mwesen (formerly known by its Mota name Mosina) is an Oceanic language spoken in the southeastern area of Vanua Lava Island, in the Banks Islands of northern Vanuatu, by about 10 speakers.[1]

Mwesen
Mosina
M̄ēsēn
Pronunciation[ŋ͡mʷɪsɪn]
Native toVanuatu
RegionVanua Lava
Native speakers
10 (2012)[1]
Language family
Austronesian
  • Malayo-Polynesian
    • Oceanic
      • Southern Oceanic
        • Vanuatu
          • North Vanuatu
            • Torres–Banks
              • Mwesen
Language codes
ISO 639-3msn (shared with Vures)
Glottologvure1239  Vures
ELPMwesen

Mwesen shows many similarities with the island's dominant language Vurës, to such an extent that they have sometimes been considered dialects of a single language. However, studies have shown that Mwesen and Vurës have various dissimilarities, e.g. in their vowel systems,[2] in their noun articles,[3] in their pronoun paradigms.[4]


Name


The name Mwesen is originally the name of a village, in the eastern part of Vanua Lava;[5] it is spelled M̄ēsēn [ŋ͡mʷɪsɪn] both in Mwesen itself, and in neighbouring Vurës. The village is known as Am̄sēn [aŋ͡mʷsɪn] (with locative prefix a-) in Mwotlap, and as M̄osina [ŋ͡mʷosina] (modern: M̄osna [ŋ͡mʷosna]) in Mota. All these different names are derived from a Proto-Torres-Banks form *mʷosina.

The old Mota name M̄osina was the source of Mosina, one of the names which was occasionally given, in English, to the Mwesen language (sometimes encompassing Mwesen together with Vurës).[6]


Phonology


Mwesen has 7 phonemic vowels. These are all short monophthongs /i ɪ ɛ a ɔ ʊ u/:[2]

Mwesen vowels
Front Back
Close i iu u
Near-close ɪ ēʊ ō
Open-mid ɛ eɔ o
Open a a

Grammar


The system of personal pronouns in Mwesen contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes four numbers (singular, dual, trial, plural).[4]

Spatial reference in Mwesen is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals, which is in part typical of Oceanic languages, in part innovative.[7]


References


  1. François (2012): 88).
  2. François (2005:446), François (2011:194)
  3. François (2007).
  4. François (2009), François (2016).
  5. Satellite view of Mwesen.
  6. For instance, the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database has a lexical list of Mwesen under the heading “Vurës (Mosina)” ‒ based on Tryon (1976).
  7. François (2015:) 169-170).

Bibliography






На других языках


- [en] Mwesen language

[fr] Mwesen

Le mwesen est une langue océanienne parlée au nord du Vanuatu dans le sud-est de l’île Vanua Lava, située dans l’archipel des îles Banks. C’est une langue en danger : elle n’a qu’une dizaine de locuteurs[1] et les jeunes parlent désormais une langue voisine, le vurës.



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