- Mwotlap language
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Mwotlap Pronunciation [ŋ͡mʷɔtˈlap] Spoken in Vanuatu Region Mota Lava island, Banks Islands Native speakers 2100 (date missing) Language family Austronesian- Malayo-Polynesian
- Oceanic
- Southern Oceanic
- Vanuatu
- Northern Vanuatu
- East Vanuatu
- Mwotlap
- East Vanuatu
- Northern Vanuatu
- Vanuatu
- Southern Oceanic
- Oceanic
Language codes ISO 639-3 mlv Mwotlap (pronounced [ŋ͡mʷɔtˈlap]; formerly known as Motlav) is an Oceanic language spoken by about 2,100 people,[1] on the island of Mota Lava (or Motalava), in the Banks Islands, in the northern part of Vanuatu.
Mwotlap belongs to the East Vanuatu languages, a branch of the Austronesian languages family.
Mwotlap was first described in 2001, by the linguist Alexandre François.
Contents
Phonology
Mwotlap has 7 phonemic vowels. These are 7 short monophthongs /i ɪ ɛ a ɔ ʊ u/.[2]
Notes
- ^ List of Banks islands languages.
- ^ François (2005a:116); François (2005b:445)
References
- François, Alexandre (2000), "Vowel shifting and cloning in Motlav: historical explanation vs. formal description", in Klamer, Marian, Proceedings of AFLA 7 (The Seventh Meeting of Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association), Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, pp. 49–68, http://alex.francois.free.fr/data/AlexFrancois_2000_MwotlapVowels.pdf
- François, Alexandre (2001), Contraintes de structures et liberté dans l'organisation du discours. Une description du mwotlap, langue océanienne du Vanuatu. PhD dissertation, Université Paris-IV Sorbonne. 1078 pp.
- François, Alexandre (2003), La sémantique du prédicat en mwotlap (Vanuatu), Collection Linguistique de la Société de Linguistique de Paris, Leuven-Paris: Peeters, ISBN 90-429-1271-5, http://www.peeters-leuven.be/boekoverz.asp?nr=7519
- François, Alexandre (2003), "Of men, hills and winds: Space directionals in Mwotlap", Oceanic Linguistics 42 (2): 407–437, http://alex.francois.free.fr/data/AlexFrancois_SpaceDirectionalsMwotlap_OL2003.pdf
- François, Alexandre (2005a), "A typological overview of Mwotlap, an Oceanic language of Vanuatu", Linguistic Typology 9 (1): 115–146, doi:10.1515/lity.2005.9.1.115
- François, Alexandre (2005b), "Unraveling the history of vowels in seventeen north Vanuatu languages", Oceanic Linguistics 44 (2): 443–504, http://alex.francois.free.fr/data/AlexFrancois_VowelsNorthernVanuatu_OL44-2.pdf
- François, Alexandre (2006), "Serial verb constructions in Mwotlap", in Dixon, R.M.W.; Aikhenvald, Alexandra, Serial Verb Constructions: A cross-linguistic typology, Explorations in Linguistic Typology, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 223–238, http://alex.francois.free.fr/data/AlexFrancois_2005_SerialVerbs-Mwotlap_preprint.pdf
External links
- (French) Alexandre François's site, including introduction to Mwotlap and Motalava culture, photos, maps, songs, a myth, and a story
- Ethnologue page
Categories:- Language articles with undated speaker data
- East Vanuatu languages
- Languages of Vanuatu
- Torba Province
- Austronesian language stubs
- Vanuatu stubs
- Malayo-Polynesian
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