Lemerig language
Lemerig (sometimes also called Pak, Päk, or Sasar) is an Oceanic language spoken on Vanua Lava, in Vanuatu.
| Lemerig | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Vanuatu |
| Region | Vanua Lava |
Native speakers | 2 (2010)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | lrz |
| Glottolog | leme1238 |
| ELP | Lemerig[2] |
Lemerig is no longer actively spoken. The 2 remaining speakers live on the northern coast of the island.[3] The language has receded in favour of its neighbours Mwotlap and Vera'a.[1]
Phonology
Lemerig has 11 phonemic vowels. These are all short monophthongs /i ɪ ɛ æ a œ ø ɒ̝ ɔ ʊ u/.[4]
| Front | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| plain | round | ||
| Close | i | u | |
| Near-close | ɪ | ø | ʊ |
| Open-mid | ɛ | œ | ɔ |
| Near-open | æ | ɒ̝ | |
| Open | a | ||
Grammar
The system of personal pronouns in Lemerig contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes four numbers (singular, dual, trial, plural).[5]
Spatial reference in Lemerig is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals, which is in part typical of Oceanic languages, in part innovative.[6]
References
- François 2012, p. 87.
- Endangered Languages Project data for Lemerig.
- List of Banks islands languages.
- François 2011, p. 194.
- François 2016.
- François 2015, pp. 169–170.
Bibliography
- François, Alexandre (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..
- —— (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. 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. 47. Bern: Peter Lang. pp. 25–60..
External links
- A book of traditional stories, monolingual in Lemerig.
- Audio recordings in the Lemerig language, in open access, by A. François (Pangloss Collection).
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