Lemerig language
| Lemerig | |
|---|---|
| Pak, Päk, Sasar | |
| Pronunciation | [lɪmɪˈriɣ] |
| Native to | Vanuatu |
| Region | Vanua Lava |
Native speakers | 2 (2010)[1] |
| Dialects | Alo-Teqel, Pak, Sasar |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | lrz |
| Glottolog | leme1238 |
| ELP | Lemerig |
 Lemerig is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Lemerig is an Oceanic language spoken on Vanua Lava, in Vanuatu.
Lemerig is no longer actively spoken. The 2 remaining speakers live on the northern coast of the island.[2] The language has receded in favour of its neighbours Mwotlap and Vera'a.[1]
Name
[edit]The name Lemerig /lemeriɣ/ refers to a now abandoned village in northern Vanua Lava in Mota, corresponding to the native name Lēmērig (/lɪmɪˈriɣ/). Its name in Mwotlap is Lemyig [lɛmˈjiɣ]. It comes from Proto-Torres-Banks *lemeriɣi, where the *riɣi component likely means "small".
Dialects
[edit]Lemerig has sometimes been referred to using the names of its local varieties: Päk;[3] Sasar; Alo-Teqel.
Judging from wordlists published by missionary and linguist Robert Codrington,[4] these three varieties were very close to each other. The little differences there were went extinct during the 20th century.
Phonology
[edit]Lemerig has 11 phonemic vowels. These are all short monophthongs /i ɪ ɛ æ a œ ø ɒ̝ ɔ ʊ u/.[5][6]
| Front | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| plain | round | ||
| Close | i ⟨i⟩ | u ⟨u⟩ | |
| Near-close | ɪ ⟨ē⟩ | ø ⟨ö⟩ | ʊ ⟨ō⟩ |
| Open-mid | ɛ ⟨e⟩ | œ ⟨ë⟩ | ɔ ⟨o⟩ |
| Near-open | æ ⟨ä⟩ | ɒ̝ ⟨ā⟩ | |
| Open | a ⟨a⟩ | ||
Grammar
[edit]The system of personal pronouns in Lemerig contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes four numbers (singular, dual, trial, and plural).[7]
Spatial reference in Lemerig is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals, which is in part typical of Oceanic languages, in part innovative.[8]
References
[edit]- ^ a b François 2012, p. 87.
- ^ List of Banks islands languages.
- ^ Päk [pæk] is a village on the north coast of Vanua Lava island, today often referred to using its Mwotlap name Abek [aᵐbɛk]. Due to its vowel [æ] (potentially ambiguous to Western ears), the original name in Lemerig was spelled Pak in Codrington 1885 (pp.39 sqq), but Pek in Codrington 1891 (p.81).
- ^ See Codrington 1885, pp.39-52 sqq..
- ^ François 2011, p. 194.
- ^ See François 2021.
- ^ François 2016.
- ^ François 2015, pp. 169–170.
Bibliography
[edit]- Codrington, Robert Henry (1885). The Melanesian Languages. Vol. 47. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 25–60.
- Codrington, Robert Henry (1891). The Melanesians: Studies in Their Anthropology and Folk-lore. New York: Clarendon Press. ISBN 9780486202587.
- 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. hdl:1885/29283. S2CID 42217419..
- —— (2012). "The dynamics of linguistic diversity: Egalitarian multilingualism and power imbalance among northern Vanuatu languages" (PDF). International Journal of the Sociology of Language. 2012 (214): 85–110. doi:10.1515/ijsl-2012-0022. S2CID 145208588.
- —— (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.
- —— (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..
- —— (2021). "Presentation of the Lemerig language and audio archive". Pangloss Collection. Paris: CNRS. Retrieved 19 Nov 2023.
- François, Alexandre & Taitus Sërortēlsöm (2006). Nvāv ʻām ʻa Lēmērig — Storian long lanwis blong Lemerig (Vanua Lava, Banks, Vanuatu). Collection of stories from the oral tradition, monolingual in Lemerig. Paris.
External links
[edit]- Audio recordings in the Lemerig language, in open access, by linguist A. François (Pangloss Collection). Features a presentation of the language, and pictures of some of the last speakers.
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