The nine South Vanuatu languages form a family of the Southern Oceanic languages,[1] spoken in Tafea Province (Tanna, Aneityum, Futuna, Erromango, and Aniwa) of Vanuatu.
| South Vanuatu | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Southern Vanuatu |
| Linguistic classification | Austronesian
|
| Proto-language | Proto-South Vanuatu |
| Glottolog | sout2868 |
François (2015:18-21) lists the following names and locations for the 9 South Vanuatu languages.
| No. | Language | Other names | Speakers | Ethnologue | ISO 639-3 | Region |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 128 | Sie | Se, Sie, Erromanga | 1900 | erg | erg | Erromango |
| 129 | Ura | 6 | uur | uur | Erromango | |
| 130 | Utaha | 0 | iff | iff | Erromango | |
| 131 | North Tanna | 5000 | tnn | tnn | Tanna | |
| 132 | Lenakel | Netvaar | 11500 | tnl | tnl | Tanna |
| 133 | Southwest Tanna | Nawal | 5000 | nwi | nwi | Tanna |
| 134 | Whitesands | Narak | 7500 | tnp | tnp | Tanna |
| 135 | Kwamera | Nafe, Nɨfe | 3500 | tnk | tnk | Tanna |
| 137 | Anejom̃ | Aneityum | 900 | aty | aty | Aneityum |
| Proto-South Vanuatu | |
|---|---|
| PSV | |
| Reconstruction of | South Vanuatu languages |
Reconstructed ancestors | Proto-Austronesian
|
Proto-South Vanuatu was reconstructed by John Lynch in 2001.
The language, compared to Proto-Oceanic, went through a series of vowel reductions, leading to the creation of a new vowel written as *ə, such as in *na-waiR "fresh water" resulting in Proto-South Vanuatu *nə-wai of the same meaning.
However, it also preserves some, but not all final consonants. For example, *tanum "to plant, bury" is reflected in Proto-South Vanuatu as *(a)-tenum "to bury", but *taŋis "to cry" is instead reflected as *(a)-taŋi.
The vowels of Proto-South Vanuatu, according to Lynch, are:
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | *i | *u | |
| Close-mid | *e | *ə | *o |
| Open | *a |
The consonants of Proto-South Vanuatu, according to Lynch, are:
| Labiovelar | Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | voiced | *bʷ | *b | *d | *g | ||
| voiceless | *pʷ | *p | *t | *k | *q | ||
| Nasal | *mʷ | *m | *n | *ŋ | |||
| Fricative | *v | *s | *c, *ɟ [clarification needed] |
*ɣ | |||
| Approximant | *w | *l, *r | *j | ||||
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