Mwerlap is an Oceanic language spoken in the south of the Banks Islands in Vanuatu.
Its 1,100 speakers live mostly in Merelava and Merig, but a fair proportion have also settled on the east coast of Gaua island. Besides, a number of Mwerlap speakers live in the two cities of Vanuatu, Port Vila and Luganville.
The language has been studied by Alexandre François, and more recently by Agnès Henri.
Name The language is named after Mwerlap, the native name of Merelava island.
Phonology Consonants Mwerlap has 16 phonemic consonants.
+Mwerlap consonantsLabiovelarLabialAlveolarVelarPlosivevoiceless prenasal Nasal Fricative ~ Rhotic Lateral Approximant /v/ is also heard as [β] when geminated in syllable-initial position.
/s/ may also be heard as alveolo-palatal [ɕ] when in geminated positions.; see online.
Vowels Mwerlap has 12 phonemic vowels. These include 9 monophthongs , and 3 diphthongs .
+ Mwerlap vowelsFrontCentralroundedBack Diphthongs Close () Near-close Open-mid Open /ʉ/ may also be heard as back [u] among speakers.
Grammar The system of personal pronouns in Mwerlap contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes three numbers (singular, dual, plural).
+ Independent pronouns in Mwerlap Singular Dual Plural1st inclusiveno ~ në ~ dōrō gean exclusive kamar kemem 2nd neak kamrō kemi 3rd (ki)sean karar kear
Spatial reference in Mwerlap is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals.; see online. That system is partly typical of Oceanic languages, and yet innovative.
References
Bibliography
External links Linguistic map of north Vanuatu, showing range of Mwerlap. Online material in Mwerlap (Merlav): audio recordings, documents, etc. Na Buk Tatar, Portions of the Book of Common Prayer in the Merelava (Mwerlap) language, digitized by Richard Mammana Audio recordings in the Mwerlap language, in open access, by A. François (source: Pangloss Collection, CNRS). Materials on Mwerlap are included in the open access Arthur Capell collections (AC1 and AC2) held by Paradisec.