Southwest Tanna language

Summary

Southwest Tanna is a dialect chain spoken on the southwestern coast of Tanna Island in Vanuatu. Lynch (1982) names three major dialects: Nivhaal in the north-west of the language area (spelt "Nauvhal" in publicity for the 2015 film Tanna), Nivai in the south-west, and Nelpwaai in the north-east.[2]

Southwest Tanna
Nawal
Native toVanuatu
RegionTanna Island
Native speakers
4,500 (2011)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3nwi
Glottologsout2869
Southwest Tanna is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

References edit

  1. ^ Southwest Tanna at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ John Lynch (1982). "South-West Tanna Grammar Outline and Vocabulary". Papers in Linguistics of Melanesia. 4.

External links edit

  • Database of audio recordings in language of Tanna, Southwest - basic Catholic prayers
  • Paradisec has two collections of Arthur Cappell's materials (AC1, AC2) that include Southwest Tanna language materials.
  • Nehrbass's Comprehensive lexicon contains data on the dialects of the Southwest Tanna language ([1])