Mwotlap language

Mwotlap
Motlav
Pronunciation	[ŋ͡mʷɔtˈlap]
Native to	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
Dialects	Volow
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mlv

Mwotlap (pronounced [ŋ͡mʷɔtˈlap]; formerly known as Motlav) is an Oceanic language spoken by about 2,100 people, 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. Volow (Valuwa) dialect may be considered a separate language.

Mwotlap was first described in 2001, by the linguist Alexandre François.

Phonology

Mwotlap has 7 phonemic vowels, which are all short monophthongs:

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Near-close	ɪ	ʊ
Open-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Open	a

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 
• 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 (2003a), La sémantique du prédicat en mwotlap (Vanuatu), Collection Linguistique de la Société de Linguistique de Paris, Leuven-Paris: Peeters, ISBN 90-429-1271-5 
• François, Alexandre (2003b), "Of men, hills and winds: Space directionals in Mwotlap", Oceanic Linguistics 42 (2): 407–437 
• François, Alexandre (2004), "Chains of freedom: Constraints and creativity in the macro-verb strategies of Mwotlap", in Bril, Isabelle; Ozanne-Rivierre, Françoise, Complex predicates in Oceanic languages: Studies in the dynamics of binding and boundness, Empirical Approaches to Language Typology, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 107–143 
• François, Alexandre (2005a), "Unraveling the history of the vowels of seventeen northern Vanuatu languages", Oceanic Linguistics 44 (2): 443–504 

• François, Alexandre (2005b), "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 (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 

• François, Alexandre (2007), "Noun articles in Torres and Banks languages: Conservation and innovation", in Siegel, Jeff; Lynch, John; Eades, Diana, Language Description, History and Development: Linguistic indulgence in memory of Terry Crowley, Creole Language Library 30, Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 313–326 
• François, Alexandre (2009), "Verbal aspect and personal pronouns: The history of aorist markers in north Vanuatu", in Pawley, Andrew; Adelaar, Alexander, Austronesian historical linguistics and culture history: A festschrift for Bob Blust 601, Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, pp. 179–195 
• François, Alexandre (2011a), "Where *R they all? The history and geography of *R loss in Southern Oceanic", Oceanic Linguistics 50 (1): 142–199 

• François, Alexandre (2011b), "Social ecology and language history in the northern Vanuatu linkage: A tale of divergence and convergence", Journal of Historical Linguistics 1 (2): 175–246, doi:10.1075/jhl.1.2.03fra .
• François, Alexandre (2012), "The dynamics of linguistic diversity: Egalitarian multilingualism and power imbalance among northern Vanuatu languages", International Journal of the Sociology of Language 214: 85–110, doi:10.1515/ijsl-2012-0022 

External links

• (French) Alexandre François's site, including introduction to Mwotlap and Motalava culture, photos, maps, songs, a myth, and a story
• Ethnologue page
• Nalne Genyon Ta Melanesia A Liturgy for Melanesia in Mwotlap (1970)