Koro language (Vanuatu)
| Koro | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Vanuatu |
| Region | Gaua |
Native speakers | 250 (2012)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | krf |
| Glottolog | koro1318 |
| ELP | Koro (Vanuatu) |
Koro is an Oceanic language spoken on Gaua island in Vanuatu. Its 280 speakers live in the village of Koro, on the south coast of Gaua.[2]
Koro is a distinct language from its immediate neighbours, Dorig (300 sp.) and Olrat (4 sp.).[3]
Phonology
Koro has 8 phonemic vowels. These include 7 monophthongs /i ɪ ɛ a ɔ ʊ u/ and one diphthong /ɛ͡a/.[4]
Grammar
The system of personal pronouns in Koro contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes four numbers (singular, dual, trial, plural).[5]
Spatial reference in Koro is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals, which is typical of Oceanic languages.[6]
References
- ^ François (2012): 88).
- ^ François (2005:444).
- ^ List of Banks islands languages.
- ^ François (2005:445).
- ^ François (2016).
- ^ François (2015).
Bibliography
- François, Alexandre (2005), "Unraveling the history of the vowels of seventeen northern Vanuatu languages" (PDF), Oceanic Linguistics, 44 (2): 443–504, doi:10.1353/ol.2005.0034
- 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.
- François, Alexandre (2012), "The dynamics of linguistic diversity: Egalitarian multilingualism and power imbalance among northern Vanuatu languages" (PDF), International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 214 (214): 85–110, doi:10.1515/ijsl-2012-0022
- François, Alexandre (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.
- François, Alexandre (2016), "The historical morphology of personal pronouns in northern Vanuatu" (PDF), in Pozdniakov, Konstantin (ed.), Comparatisme et reconstruction : tendances actuelles, Faits de Langues, vol. 47, Bern: Peter Lang, pp. 25–60
External links
- Linguistic map of north Vanuatu, showing range of Koro on Gaua.
- Audio recordings in the Koro language, in open access, by A. François (source: Pangloss Collection).
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