| Whitesands | |
|---|---|
| East Tanna | |
| Narak | |
| Native to | Vanuatu |
| Region | Tanna Island, east coast |
Native speakers | 7,500 (2001)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tnp |
| Glottolog | whit1269 |
 Whitesands is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Whitesands, or East Tanna, or Narak,[2] is a language spoken on the eastern coast of Tanna, in southern Vanuatu. It is closely related to the neighbouring North Tanna and Lenakel languages.[3]
Phonology
[edit]Consonants
[edit]Whitesands has 16 consonant phonemes:[3]: 9
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||
| Plosive | p | t | tʲ | k | |
| Fricative | f | s | x | h | |
| Rhotic | r ɹ | ||||
| Lateral | l | ||||
| Semivowel | w | j |
Vowels
[edit]It has six phonemic vowels:[3]: 8
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ə | u |
| Mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | ɐ |
References
[edit]- ^ Whitesands at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ François, Alexandre; Franjieh, Michael; Lacrampe, Sébastien; Schnell, Stefan (2015), "The exceptional linguistic density of Vanuatu" (PDF), in François, Alexandre; Lacrampe, Sébastien; Franjieh, Michael; Schnell, Stefan (eds.), The Languages of Vanuatu: Unity and Diversity, Studies in the Languages of Island Melanesia, Canberra: Asia Pacific Linguistics Open Access, pp. 1–21.
- ^ a b c Hammond, Jeremy (June 2009). "The Grammar of Nouns and Verbs in Whitesands, an Oceanic Language of Southern Vanuatu" (PDF). CORE.