Teanu language

For the island, see Teanu island.

Teanu
Teanu
Native to	Solomon Islands
Region	Vanikoro, Eastern Solomons
Native speakers	800 (2012)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Temotu Utupua–Vanikoro Vanikoro Teanu
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tkw
Glottolog	tean1237
ELP	Teanu
Coordinates: 11°39′S 166°54′E

Teanu (or Puma, Buma) is the main language spoken on the island of Vanikoro, in the easternmost province of the Solomon Islands.

Some information on Teanu, as well as on the two other languages of the island, can be found in François (2009).

Name

The language receives its name from Teanu, the island located northeast of the Vanikoro island group. The same language has also been known in the literature as Puma (or wrongly Buma), after the main village of Teanu island.

Geography

Whereas Teanu used to be confined to the northeast part of the island group, during the 20th century it has become the main language of the whole island group of Vanikoro, at the expense of the two other indigenous languages Lovono and Tanema.

While the Melanesian population of Vanikoro now speaks Teanu, the southern coast of the island also has been colonised for a few centuries by a Polynesian population, who still keep strong ties with their homeland, the nearby island of Tikopia. Their main language is Tikopia, even though some speak Teanu as a second language.

References

• François, Alexandre (2009), "The languages of Vanikoro: Three lexicons and one grammar", in Evans, Bethwyn (ed.), Discovering history through language: Papers in honour of Malcolm Ross, Pacific Linguistics 605, Canberra: Australian National University, pp. 103–126

External links

• Linguistic map of Vanikoro, showing the traditional territory of Teanu.
• Audio archives in Teanu language (collected by A. François)
• Online Teanu–English dictionary (by A. François)
• Basic vocabulary list in Teanu (Buma) (site: ABVD)