The exceptional linguistic density of Vanuatu

2015

With an estimated 138 different indigenous languages, Vanuatu is the country with the highest linguistic density in the world. While they all belong to the Oceanic family, these languages have evolved in three millennia, from what was once a unified dialect network, to the mosaic of different languages that we know today. In this respect, Vanuatu constitutes a valuable laboratory for exploring the ways in which linguistic diversity can emerge out of former unity. This volume represents the first collective book dedicated solely to the languages of this archipelago, and to the various forms taken by their diversity. Its ten chapters cover a wide range of topics, including verbal aspect, valency, possessive structures, numerals, space systems, oral history and narratives. The languages of Vanuatu: Unity and Diversity provides new insights onto the many facets of Vanuatu’s rich linguistic landscape.

Island Life, 2018

A summary of indigenous-led efforts in Vanuatu, the world's number one Language Hotspot, to sustain langauge diversity, using technological tools including Talking Dictionaries, assisted by linguists. Published in a local Vanuatu popular magazine "Island Life".

Ever since the development of the Comparative Method by the Neo-grammarians, the family tree has been the most widely accepted model for representing historical relations between languages. It is even being reinvigorated by the current development of computer approaches to phylogenetic studies (e.g. Gray et al. 2009). Admittedly, its application provides an easily interpretable storyline involving subgroups, protolanguages and population splits, and is amenable to an appealingly simple visual representation. This phylogenetic model, however, rests on a number of problematic assumptions (Bossong 2009): (1) that languages essentially evolve in isolation from their neighbours; (2) that the history of languages can be traced back by looking exclusively at divergence, to the exclusion of convergence and diffusion; (3) that each modern language belongs to a single subgroup, which is itself nested in another discrete subgroup, and so on and so forth. The tree model suits just one ideal case: when a population went through successive migration pulses with systematic loss of contact. For all other scenarios, it fails to provide any accurate representation of language history, as has been widely observed already (cf. Durie & Ross 1996; Pawley 1999; Heggarty et al. 2010). In particular, it is unable to deal with cases of diffusion across dialect continuums. Ross (1988) has proposed the term linkage to refer to “a group of communalects which have arisen by dialect differentiation”, i.e. the modern descendants of an earlier dialect continuum. Just like dialect chains, linkages are not compatible with family trees, because they do not involve discrete subgroups, but constantly intersecting isoglosses. Ross’ important observations, initially made about languages of Western Melanesia, deserve to be extrapolated to other parts of the world. We need to develop an accurate representation of language history in dialect continuums and linkages, that would combine the scientific power of the comparative method with a diffusionist, non-cladistic approach. Our talk will present a method for unravelling and representing the linguistic history of a specific linkage: Vanuatu. Even though modern Vanuatu languages have long lost any mutual intelligibility, their history is best represented using a wave-model approach (Tryon 1996, François 2011a): each post-dispersal innovation diffused across a social network of small communities in constant interaction speaking mutually intelligible dialects, à la Fiji (Geraghty 1983). Focusing on the 17 languages of the Banks & Torres Islands (François 2011b), we identify 441 linguistic innovations reflected in the area – whether phonological, morphological, lexical or otherwise. Using the tools of dialectometry developed by European dialectologists (Goebl 2006, Nerbonne 2010, Szmrecsanyi 2011), notably Multi Dimensional Scaling, we track the geographic patterns of linguistic diffusion. We identify historically significant clusters of languages, albeit intersecting ones, and show what they tell us about the social history of the area. Our purpose is to show it is possible to achieve an accurate and elegant representation of linkages, by taking advantage of the strengths of the Comparative Method, yet steering clear of the phylogenetic model and its unfortunate delusions.

The Torres and Banks Islands, two small archipelagos of northern Vanuatu, are home to 9400 inhabitants and to 17 distinct languages. With an average of 550 speakers per language, this region constitutes an extreme case of the linguistic fragmentation which is typically observed throughout Melanesia. This study presents the linguistic diversity of that area, examines its social underpinnings and outlines its historical dynamics. These islands form an integrated network where a variety of social forces interact, sometimes in conflicting ways. A long lasting bias toward cultural differentiation of local communities has led historically to the linguistic mosaic observable today. This traditional fostering of diversity was correlated with a principle of egalitarian multilingualism. But while these ancient social attitudes have survived to this day, the linguistic diversity of northern Vanuatu has already begun to erode, due to various recent social changes. These changes have reshaped the language ecology of the region and already resulted in the partial loss of earlier linguistic diversity. While northern Vanuatu is still linguistically diverse today, the increased imbalance of power among languages potentially makes the weaker varieties vulnerable in the decades to come. => François, Alexandre. 2012. The dynamics of linguistic diversity: Egalitarian multilingualism and power imbalance among northern Vanuatu languages. International Journal of the Sociology of Language. 214, 85–110. [ http://bit.ly/AF-multilingualism ]

This study describes and explains the paradox of related languages in contact that show signs of both linguistic divergence and convergence. Seventeen distinct languages are spoken in the northernmost islands of Vanuatu. These closely related Oceanic languages have evolved from an earlier dialect network, by progressive diversification. Innovations affecting word forms — mostly sound change and lexical replacement — have usually spread only short distances across the network; their accumulation over time has resulted in linguistic fragmentation, as each spatially-anchored community developed its own distinctive vocabulary. However, while languages follow a strong tendency to diverge in the form of their words, they also exhibit a high degree of isomorphism in their linguistic structures, and in the organization of their grammars and lexicons. This structural homogeneity, typically manifested by the perfect translatability of constructions across languages, reflects the traditions of mutual contact and multilingualism which these small communities have followed throughout their history. While word forms are perceived as emblematic of place and diffuse to smaller social circles, linguistic structures are left free to diffuse across much broader networks. Ultimately, the effects of divergence and convergence are the end result, over time, of these two distinct forms of horizontal diffusion. => François, Alexandre. 2011. Social ecology and language history in the northern Vanuatu linkage: A tale of divergence and convergence. Journal of Historical Linguistics 1 (2). 175-246. [ http://bit.ly/AF-linkage-JHL ]

2011

This paper focuses on the problem posed by the vowel surfacing during two encliticization processes in Lelepa (Oceanic, Vanuatu), with the nominalizer =na ‘NMLZ’ and the pronominal =s ‘OBL’. For instance, the verbs faam ‘eat’, mat ‘dead’ and fan ‘go:IRR’ are derived as nafaamina ‘food’, nmatena ‘funeral’ and nafanona ‘departure’. While the base forms have the same vowel /a/, those vowels surfacing before =na seem unpredictable. This paper discusses several possible explanations for these vowels and shows that both historical and phonological approaches are needed to account for them. Still, there is variation in the nominalisation of certain native verbs such as raik ‘fish with hand spear’, which is derived as either naraikana or naraikina ‘hand spear fishing’. It is shown that while naraikana is accounted for in diachrony, naraikina results from a reanalysis process indicated by intergenerational variation. Keywords. Lelepa, Oceanic, borrowings, vowels, language change

PhD thesis, 2020

If we are to understand global linguistic diversity, we must first understand the mechanisms which engender and maintain it. This is what the Wellsprings of Linguistic Diversity project (Australian National University, 2014-2019) aims to examine by studying variation in small communities of the Australasia-Pacific region. Within the framework of the Wellsprings project, this thesis investigates the existence and spread of linguistic variation in the speech community of Raga, on the island of Pentecost, in linguistically diverse Vanuatu. It is primarily a field study, firmly grounded in the survey of social and linguistic data collected in 2015-2017 in north Pentecost, from 58 men and women representing three generations of speakers. This thesis examines variables in three different linguistic domains: use of possessive classifiers (morpho-syntactic); frequency of borrowing from Bislama and nativisation strategies (lexical); and deletion of the phonemic velar fricative (phonological). Quantitative analysis has confirmed intergenerational and intergender variation for the lexical and phonological variables. In a corpus demonstrating an overall low rate of borrowing (1.6%), the findings show that women and younger speakers borrow more frequently from Bislama than the other speakers. Young men are more prone to deleting the velar fricative, perhaps modelling their speech on consonant-dropping prestigious older men. Raga presents no regional diversity and little innovation from the reconstructed proto forms. These features set the language apart within the Vanuatu high-diversity context, and this study also investigates the mechanisms of uniformisation that inhibit the spread of innovative variants in this community of 6,500 speakers. Several factors combine to favour the linguistic conservatism exhibited by Raga. Endogamous marriage practices, maintenance of strong ties with relatives over long distances and generations, reliance on customary mutual obligations, high socio-historical status of the Raga society, and practice of a single religion all impact on the homogeneity of avoana ata raga 'the language of Raga'. With the notable exception of Meyerhoff's studies of Nkep (Meyerhoff 2015, 2016, 2017a, 2017b), there has been little attempt at probing linguistic variability in the recorded natural speech of diverse speakers of a language of Vanuatu. This thesis adds to the body of research that addresses this gap. The thesis also highlights the value of investigating languages in their social context, and in close collaboration with native speakers. This bottom-up approach is essential in identifying and untangling the factors at play in the complex history of Vanuatu's linguistic diversity.

Oceanic Linguistics, 2001

Dictionary 2. 1 Dictionary entries 2. 1.1 Organisation of information 2. 1.2 Spelling 2.2 Ura-English dictionary 2.3 English-Ura finderlist 3 Ura texts 3.1 Ura texts and Sye equivalents 3. 1.1 Ura: a disappearing language 3.1.2 The devil and the old man 71 3.1.3 The devil and the three goats 71 3.1.4 The devil and the twins 71 3.1.5 The bird and the dog 3.1.6 Life in the old days 3.1.7 The shark and the lizard 73 3.1.8 The child and the dog 3. 1.9 A man from Ponamlah 3.1.10 The flying fox and the rat 3.1.11 The rat and the turtle 3.1.12 The woman and the insect 3.1.13 The yams and the man 3.2 Ura texts with English glosses 3.2. 1 Ura: a disappearing language viii Chapter contents in detail 3.2.2 The devil and the old man 81 3.2.3 The devil and the three goats 82 3.2.4 The devil and the twins 3.2.5 The bird and the dog 3.2.6 Life in the old days 84 3.2.7 The shark and the lizard 87 3.2.8 The child and the dog 3.2.9 A man from Ponamlah 90 3.2. 10 The flying fox and the rat 92 3.2. 1 1 The rat and the turtle 94 3.2. 12 The worm and the insect 98 3.2. 13 The yams and the man 4 Phonology 4. 1 Phoneme inventory 4. 1.1 Consonants 4. 1.2 Vowels 4.2 Word-initial reduction 4.3 Stress 4.4 Phonotactics 4.4. 1 Syllabicity 4.4.2 Vowel and glide sequences 4.4.3 Root-initial segments 4.4.4 Root-final segments 4.4.5 Intervocalic consonant sequences 4.5 11orphophonemics 4.5.1 Segmental changes 4.5.2 Reduplication 4.6 110rpheme and word boundaries 4.7 Orthography 5 Non-verbal morphology 5.1 Nominal morphology 5.1.1 Pronouns 127 5.1.2 Nouns 5.2 Adjectival morphology 5.2. 1 Simple and derived adjectives 142 5.2.2 Number on adjectives 145 5.3 Prepositional morphology 6 Verbal morphology 6. 1 Verb-root mutation Chapter contents in detail ix 6.1.1 Conditioning environments 6.

Data collected on the 17 languages spoken in the Banks and Torres Islands (northern Vanuatu) reveal strikingly diverse vowel systems, differing both in the quality and the quantity of their phonemes. Except for Mota, which still perpetuates the five vowels of Proto-Oceanic, the languages of this area have historically increased their inventories to as many as 13 and even 16 vowels. The aim of this paper is to track the systematic correspondences between modern languages and their common ancestor, and to reconstruct the processes that led to the present-day phonemic diversity. The phonemicization of new vowels, including diphthongs and long vowels, is shown to result from stress-induced vowel reduction and metaphony. This general process of “vowel hybridization” yielded results that differed from one language to another, and sometimes within the same language. After describing and classifying the various patterns of sound changes attested, this paper shows how a proper understanding of vowel hybridization proves indispensable for the reconstruction of both the lexicon and the historical morphology of these northern Vanuatu languages.