North Efate language

North Efate
North Efate
Nakanamanga
Nguna
Region	Efate, Vanuatu
Native speakers	9,500 (2001)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southern Oceanic North-Central Vanuatu Central Vanuatu Epi-Efate Efate North Efate; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	llp
Glottolog	nort2836
	North Efate is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

North Efate, also known as Nakanamanga or Nguna, is an Oceanic language spoken on the northern area of Efate in Vanuatu, as well as on a number of islands off the northern coast – including Nguna, and parts of Tongoa, Emae and Epi.

A Nakanamanga, or North Efate, speaker.

The population of speakers is recorded to be 9,500.^[2] This makes Nakanamanga one of the largest languages of Vanuatu, an archipelago known for having the world's highest linguistic density.^[3]

Phonology

The consonant and vowels sounds of North Efate (Nguna).^[4]

Consonant sounds
		Labial	Dental	Velar
Plosive	plain	p	t̪	k
Plosive	implosive	ɓʷ
Fricative		v	s
Nasal	plain	m	n	ŋ
Nasal	prenasal	ᵑm
Liquid			l r
Semivowel		w

Vowel sounds
	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e		o
Low		a

Subdialects of North Efate include:^[5]

Buninga
Emau
Livara
Nguna
Paunangis
Sesake

Typology follows Subject Object Verb order as is observed in Nguna^[2]

References

Ray, Sidney H. (1887). "Sketch of Nguna Grammar". The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 16. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland: 409–418. doi:10.2307/2841882. JSTOR 2841882.
Schütz, Albert J. (1969). "Nguna Grammar". Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications.

Notes

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[2]

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