Big Nambas language
Big Nambas (native name V'ənen Taut) is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by about 1,800 people (as of 1983) in northwest Malekula, Vanuatu. Approximately nineteen villages in the Big Nambas region of the Malekula Interior use the language exclusively with no variation in dialect. It was studied in-depth over a period of about 10 years by missionary Dr. Greg. J. Fox, who published a grammar and dictionary in 1979. A Big Nambas translation of the Holy Bible is (as of September 2020) close to completion.
| Big Nambas | |
|---|---|
| V'ənen Taut | |
| Pronunciation | [ˈð̼ənɛn tautʰ] |
| Native to | Vanuatu |
| Region | Northwest Malekula |
Native speakers | 3,400 (2001)[1] |
| Latin script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | nmb |
| Glottolog | bign1238 |
Phonology
The consonant phonemes of Big Nambas are as shown in the following table:
| Bilabial | Linguolabial | Alveolar | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n̼ / m̺ | n | ||
| Plosive | voiced | ⁿd | |||
| voiceless | p | t̼ / p̺ | t | k | |
| Fricative | voiced | β | ð̼ / β̺ | ɣ | |
| voiceless | s | ||||
| Liquid | rhotic | r | |||
| lateral | l | ||||
Big Nambas has a 5-vowel system with the following phonemes:
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u uː | |
| Mid | e | ə | |
| Open | a aː |
Big Nambas has a complex syllable structure with a large amount of consonant clusters possible. Additionally, clusters of up to four vowels are permitted. Stress in Big Nambas is phonemic, but partly predictable. The consonants /t β r l n/ all exhibit phonemic gemination when two identical ones occur between syllables. Linguolabial consonants are often marked with an apostrophe in the orthography to distinguish them from their bilabial counterparts.
Grammar
Big Nambas is a synthetic head-marking language.
References
- Big Nambas at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Bibliography
- Fox, G. J. (1979). Big Nambas Grammar. Pacific Linguistics. ISBN 0-85883-183-X.