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.[2] Besides, a number of Mwerlap speakers live in the two cities of Vanuatu, Port Vila and Luganville.
The language has been studied by Alexandre François, and more recently by Agnès Henri.[3]
Name
The language is named after Mwerlap, the native name of Merelava island.
Phonology
Consonants
Mwerlap has 16 phonemic consonants.
| Labiovelar | Labial | Alveolar | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | kʷ ⟨q⟩ | p ⟨p⟩ | t ⟨t⟩ | k ⟨k⟩ |
| prenasal | ᵐb ⟨b⟩ | ⁿd ⟨d⟩ | |||
| Nasal | ŋʷ ⟨n̄w⟩ | m ⟨m⟩ | n ⟨n⟩ | ŋ ⟨n̄⟩ | |
| Fricative | v ~ β ⟨v⟩ | s ⟨s⟩ | ɣ ⟨g⟩ | ||
| Rhotic | r ⟨r⟩ | ||||
| Lateral | l ⟨l⟩ | ||||
| Approximant | w ⟨w⟩ | ||||
/v/ is also heard as [β] when geminated in syllable-initial position.
/s/ may also be heard as alveolo-palatal [ɕ] when in geminated positions.[4]
Vowels
Mwerlap has 12 phonemic vowels. These include 9 monophthongs /i ɪ ɛ ʉ ɵ ɞ ʊ ɔ a/,[4] and 3 diphthongs /ɛa̯ ɔɞ̯ ʊɵ̯/.[5]
| Front | Central rounded |
Back | Diphthongs | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i ⟨i⟩ | ʉ ⟨u⟩ | (u) ⟨u⟩ | ||
| Near-close | ɪ ⟨ē⟩ | ɵ ⟨ö⟩ | ʊ ⟨ō⟩ | ʊɵ̯ ⟨ōö⟩ | |
| Open-mid | ɛ ⟨e⟩ | ɞ ⟨ë⟩ | ɔ ⟨o⟩ | ɔɞ̯ ⟨oë⟩ | |
| Open | a ⟨a⟩ | ɛa̯ ⟨ea⟩ | |||
/ʉ/ may also be heard as back [u] among speakers.[4]
Grammar
The system of personal pronouns in Mwerlap contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes three numbers (singular, dual, plural).[6]
| Singular | Dual | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | inclusive | no ~ në /nɔ/~/nœ/ | dōrō /ⁿdʊrʊ/ | gean /ɣɛ͡an/ |
| exclusive | kamar /kamar/ | kemem /kɛmɛm/ | ||
| 2nd | neak /nɛ͡ak/ | kamrō /kamrʊ/ | kemi /kɛmi/ | |
| 3rd | (ki)sean /(ki)sɛ͡an/ | karar /karar/ | kear /kɛ͡ar/ | |
Spatial reference in Mwerlap is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals.[8] That system is partly typical of Oceanic languages, and yet innovative.[9]
References
- ^ François 2012, p. 88.
- ^ François 2012, p. 97.
- ^ Henri 2023.
- ^ a b c Henri (2023, pp. 165–167); see online.
- ^ François 2005, pp. 445, 460.
- ^ François 2016, p. 51.
- ^ François 2016, p. 33-35.
- ^ Henri (2023, pp. 205–212); see online.
- ^ François 2015, pp. 173–175.
Bibliography
- François, Alexandre (2005). “Unraveling the history of the vowels of seventeen northern Vanuatu languages” (PDF). Oceanic Linguistics. 44 (2): 443–504. doi:10.1353/ol.2005.0034. S2CID 131668754.
- —— (2011). “Social ecology and language history in the northern Vanuatu linkage: A tale of divergence and convergence” (PDF). Journal of Historical Linguistics. 1 (2): 175–246. doi:10.1075/jhl.1.2.03fra. hdl:1885/29283.
- —— (2012). “The dynamics of linguistic diversity: Egalitarian multilingualism and power imbalance among northern Vanuatu languages” (PDF). International Journal of the Sociology of Language. 2012 (214): 85–110. doi:10.1515/ijsl-2012-0022. S2CID 145208588.
- —— (2015). “The ins and outs of up and down: Disentangling the nine geocentric space systems of Torres and Banks languages” (PDF). In Alexandre François; Sébastien Lacrampe; Michael Franjieh; Stefan Schnell (eds.). The languages of Vanuatu: Unity and diversity. Studies in the Languages of Island Melanesia. Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics. pp. 137–195. hdl:1885/14819. ISBN 978-1-922185-23-5.
- —— (2016). “The historical morphology of personal pronouns in northern Vanuatu” (PDF). In Pozdniakov, Konstantin (ed.). Comparatisme et reconstruction : tendances actuelles. Faits de Langues. Vol. 47. Bern: Peter Lang. pp. 25–60.
- Henri, Agnès (2023). “Éléments de description du mwerlap (langue du Nord-Vanuatu)”. Lalies. 41: 157–221. doi:10.4000/1232y. Retrieved 2024-10-12.
External links
- Linguistic map of north Vanuatu, showing range of Mwerlap.
- Online material in Mwerlap (Merlav): audio recordings, documents, etc.
- Na Buk Tatar, Portions of the Book of Common Prayer in the Merelava (Mwerlap) language, digitized by Richard Mammana
- Audio recordings in the Mwerlap language, in open access, by A. François (source: Pangloss Collection, CNRS).
- Materials on Mwerlap are included in the open access Arthur Capell collections (AC1 and AC2) held by Paradisec.