Tanema language

Tanema (Tetawo, Tetau) is a nearly extinct language of the island of Vanikoro, in the easternmost province of the Solomon Islands.

Tanema
Tetawo
Native toSolomon Islands
RegionVanikoro
Native speakers
1 (2012)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3tnx
Glottologtane1237
ELPTanema[2]

Vitality
Map of Vanikoro I., showing the historical territories of the three tribes of Lovono, Tanema and Teanu.[3]

As of 2012, Tanema is only spoken by one speaker, Lainol Nalo.[1][4] It has been replaced by Teanu, the main language of Vanikoro.

The language

Some information on the languages of Vanikoro, including Tanema, can be found in François (2009) for the grammar, and François (2020) for the lexicon.

Notes
  1. Homepage of the linguist A. François (CNRS).
  2. Endangered Languages Project data for Tanema.
  3. Source: Maps of Vanikoro (languages, place names).
  4. “The Mystery of the Sinking South Pacific Islands” — Part 2: A Language's Lone Survivor (article in Der Spiegel, 15/06/2012).

References
  • François, Alexandre (2009), "The languages of Vanikoro: Three lexicons and one grammar" (PDF), in Evans, Bethwyn (ed.), Discovering history through language: Papers in honour of Malcolm Ross, Pacific Linguistics 605, Canberra: Australian National University, pp. 103–126
  • François, Alexandre (2020). Online Teanu–English dictionary, with lexical data in Lovono and Tanema. Paris, CNRS.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.