Lemerig is an Oceanic language spoken on Vanua Lava, in Vanuatu.
The language is no longer actively spoken, having receded in favour of its neighbors, including Vera'a and possibly also Mwotlap or Vurës. Two remaining speakers live on the northern coast of the island.List of Banks islands languages.
Name
The name Lemerig refers to a now abandoned village in northern Vanua Lava; it is spelled in the language of the same name. It reflects an earlier Proto-Torres-Banks form *lemeriɣi, where the *riɣi component likely means "small".
Dialects Lemerig has sometimes been referred to using the names of its local varieties: Päk,Päk is a village on the north coast of Vanua Lava island, today often referred to using its Mwotlap name Abek (with locative). Due to its vowel (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). Sasar, and Alo-Teqel.
Judging from wordlists published by missionary and linguist Robert Codrington,See Codrington 1885, pp.39-52 sqq.. these three varieties were very close to each other. The little differences there were went extinct during the 20th century.
Phonology Lemerig has 11 phonemic vowels. These are all short monophthongs .See François 2021. + Lemerig vowelsFrontBackplainround Close Near-close Open-mid Near-open Open
Grammar The system of personal pronouns in Lemerig contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes four numbers (singular, dual, trial, and plural).
Most negative morphemes are discontinuous, wrapped around the predicate phrase: e.g. (Negative realis ‘did~does not’), (Nondumitive ‘not yet’), (Negative potential ‘cannot’). Historically, this pattern reflects an instance of Jespersen's cycle.
Spatial reference in Lemerig is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals, which is in part typical of Oceanic languages, in part innovative.
Notes
References
Bibliography
Collection of stories from the oral tradition; text in Lemerig and introduction in Bislama
External links 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.