Languages of Vanuatu

Languages of Vanuatu
Official language(s)	English, French, Bislama

Vanuatu has three official languages, English, French, and Bislama, a creole language evolved from English. Bislama is the first language of many urban ni-Vanuatu, that is, the residents of Port Vila and Luganville. It is the most common second language elsewhere in the Vanuatu islands. It is similar to Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea, and other nearby creoles.

In addition, however, there are over one hundred local languages spread over the archipelago. Vanuatu is considered to be the country with the highest density of languages per capita in the world, with an average of about 2,000 speakers for each indigenous language; only Papua New Guinea comes close. Some of these languages are very endangered, with only a handful of speakers, and indeed several have become extinct in recent times. Generally however, despite the low numbers for most of the indigenous languages, they are not considered especially vulnerable for extinction.

Indigenous languages

All of the indigenous languages of Vanuatu are Austronesian languages and most are grouped in the Northern Vanuatu branch. The Melanesian languages of Tafea province in the south are South Vanuatu languages. Many of the languages are named after the island they are spoken on, though some of the larger islands have several different languages. Espiritu Santo and Malakula are the most linguistically diverse, with about two dozen languages each. Many of these languages are very little-studied.

There are three Polynesian outlier languages in Vanuatu, all of which assigned to the Futunic languages subgroup: Emae on the island of Emae, Mele-Fila on the southern part of Efate and Futuna-Aniwa on Futuna and Aniwa.

According to Ethnologue's somewhat outdated statistics, the eight most commonly spoken local languages are: Raga (wrongly called Hano by Ethnologue; 7,000 speakers), Lenakel (6,500), Paama (6,000), Uripiv (6,000), East Ambae (5,000), West Ambae (4,500), Apma (4,500), and South Efate (3,750).

However, because none of the above languages have a standard form, it is difficult to distinguish when these represent separate languages or merely dialects. This is compounded by the fact that many of the languages have not received adequate linguistic treatment. Uripiv, for example, is a dialect continuum spoken across several islands in Malampa Province.

Language classification

• Oceanic languages
  • North and Central Vanuatu languages
    • Santo languages
    • Malekula languages
      • Approximately a dozen ill-classified languages
    • Central Vanuatu languages
      • East Vanuatu languages
      • Epi languages
      • Malekula Coastal languages
      • West Santo languages
  • South Vanuatu languages
    • Anejom̃-Tanna languages
      • Anejom̃
      • Tanna languages
    • Erromanga languages
  • Polynesian
    • Futunic languages
      • West Futunan or Futuna-Aniwa (Futuna and Aniwa, Vanuatu)
      • Emae (Emae)
      • Mele-Fila (Mele, southern Efate island)

References

• Lynch, John; Crowley, Terry (2001). Languages of Vanuatu: A new survey and bibliography. Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies. ISBN 0858834693

External links

• An annotated bibliography of Vanuatu languages, by John Lynch (last update January 1996; now outdated)
• Ethnologue report for Vanuatu, including maps
• A.François, a linguist involved in the documentation and preservation of northern Vanuatu languages
• A linguist active in preserving Vanuatu languages
• The language situation in Vanuatu by Terry Crowley