Native name: N̄wërlap Nickname: Mwerlap | |
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 Location of Merelava in the Banks Islands | |
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| Geography | |
| Location | Pacific Ocean |
| Coordinates | 14°27′S168°03′E / 14.45°S 168.05°E |
| Archipelago | Vanuatu, Banks Islands |
| Area | 18 km2 (6.9 sq mi) |
| Highest point | Mount Teu |
| Administration | |
Vanuatu | |
| Province | Torba Province |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 650 (2009) |
Merelava (or Mere Lava) is an island in the Banks Islands of the Torba Province of northern Vanuatu.
The inhabitants of Merelava call their own island Mwerlap, more accurately N̄wërlap [ŋʷɞrˈlap] .
The name Merelava or M̄ere Lava reflects the way it is called in the neighboring Mota language ‒ phonetically [ŋ͡mʷerelaβa] . According to Codrington, [1] the etymology of this name (in Proto-Torres-Banks) is likely to be *mʷera-i laβa > *mʷerelaβa, literally “the big boy”; it contrasts with the neighboring island M̄erig [ŋ͡mʷeriɣ] , from *mʷera riɣi “the small boy”. These words refer metaphorically to the islands themselves.
Cognates in other Torres-Banks languages include Mwotlap M̄eylap [ŋ͡mʷɛjˈlap] .
Merelava is situated in the southeastern part of the archipelago near Mota and Merig. Merelava has also been known as Star Island. It is located about 50 kilometres (31 miles) east of Gaua.
Merelava is a nearly round volcanic island with a diameter of almost 4.5 km and an area of 18 km2. It is formed by a basaltic stratovolcano, which reaches in Mount Teu, also called Star Peak, a height of 883 m above the sea level.
The main village is Tesmet on the west coast of the island. Other villages, starting clockwise at Tesmet, are Levetmise (northwest), Lekweal (north), Lewetneak (northeast), and Aot (southeast, second largest).
Merelava was first sighted by Europeans during the Spanish expedition of Pedro Fernández de Quirós, from 25 to 29 April 1606. The island's name was then charted as San Marcos. [2]
Merelava was reportedly seen smoking when it was first encountered by Quirós. [3]
The island has about 650 inhabitants. [4] They all speak an Oceanic language known as Mwerlap . [5]
Torba is the northernmost and least populous province of Vanuatu. It consists of the Banks Islands and the Torres Islands.
The Banks Islands are a group of islands in northern Vanuatu. Together with the Torres Islands to their northwest, they make up the northernmost province of Torba. The island group lies about 40 km (25 mi) north of Maewo, and includes Gaua and Vanua Lava, two of the 13 largest islands in Vanuatu. In 2009, the islands had a population of 8,533. The island group's combined land area is 780 km2.
Maewo is an island in Vanuatu in Penama province, 105 km to the east of Espiritu Santo.
Gaua is the largest and second most populous of the Banks Islands in Torba Province in northern Vanuatu. It covers 342 km².
Vanua Lava is the second largest of the Banks Islands in Torba Province, Vanuatu, after slightly larger Gaua.
Mwotlap is an Oceanic language spoken by about 2,100 people in Vanuatu. The majority of speakers are found on the island of Motalava in the Banks Islands, with smaller communities in the islands of Ra and Vanua Lava, as well as migrant groups in the two main cities of the country, Santo and Port Vila.
Mota Lava or Motalava is an island of the Banks group, in the north of Vanuatu. It forms a single coral system with the small island of Ra.
Qat is the principal god in the oral mythology of the Banks Islands, a small archipelago of northern Vanuatu, Melanesia.
Mota is an island in the Banks group of northern Vanuatu. Its population – today about 700 people – speak the Mota language, which Christian missionaries of the Anglican Church used as a lingua franca in parts of Melanesia.
Mota is an Oceanic language spoken by about 750 people on Mota island, in the Banks Islands of Vanuatu. It is the most conservative Torres–Banks language, and the only one to keep its inherited five-vowel system intact while also preserving most final vowels.
The North Vanuatu languages form a linkage of Southern Oceanic languages spoken in northern Vanuatu.
Merig is a small island located 20 kilometres east of Gaua, in the Banks Islands of northern Vanuatu.
Mwerlap is an Oceanic language spoken in the south of the Banks Islands in Vanuatu.
Lemerig is an Oceanic language spoken on Vanua Lava, in Vanuatu.
Olrat was an Oceanic language of Gaua island, in northern Vanuatu. It became extinct in 2009, with the death of its last speaker Maten Womal.
Mwesen is an Oceanic language spoken in the southeastern area of Vanua Lava Island, in the Banks Islands of northern Vanuatu, by about 10 speakers.
Tasmate is the name of several places in Vanuatu.
The Torres–Banks languages form a linkage of Southern Oceanic languages spoken in the Torres Islands and Banks Islands of northern Vanuatu.
Proto-Torres-Banks is the reconstructed ancestor of the seventeen languages of the Torres and Banks Islands of Vanuatu. Like all indigenous languages of Vanuatu, it belongs to the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian languages.
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