| Ninde | |
|---|---|
| Region | Malekula, Vanuatu |
Native speakers | 1,100 (2001) [1] |
| Latin script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mwi |
| Glottolog | labo1244 |
| ELP | Ninde |
 Ninde is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Ninde, or Labo (also Nide, Meaun, Mewun) is an Oceanic language spoken by about 1,100 people in the Southwest Bay area of Malekula island, in Vanuatu.
One unusual feature is that it has both a voiced and a voiceless bilabial trill. [2]
In an episode of the British television programme An Idiot Abroad , Karl Pilkington meets the chief of a local tribe, who comments upon the Ninde language. He explains that “all the words of Ninde begin with /n/”, such as the word nimdimdip for palm tree, naho for fruit, or nuhuli for leaf. They then visit the grave of a woman who was named Nicola.
However, this general statement is actually not true. Ninde words that start with /n/ are generally inanimate common nouns of the language; the /n/ reflects an old nominal article (< Proto-Oceanic *na) which has been fused to the radical of these common nouns. As for the name Nicola, which is a borrowed European name, it cannot be taken as representative of the Ninde language.
Northeast Malakula, or Uripiv-Wala-Rano-Atchin, is a dialect chain spoken on the islands of Uripiv, Wala, Rano, and Atchin and on the mainland opposite to these islands. Uripiv-Wala-Rano-Atchin is spoken today by about 9,000 people. Literacy rate of its speakers in their own language is 10–30%.
The twenty Micronesian languages form a family of Oceanic languages. Micronesian languages are known for their lack of plain labial consonants; they have instead two series, palatalized and labio-velarized labials, similar to the related Loyalty Islands languages.
The Manus languages are a subgroup of about two dozen Oceanic languages located on Manus Island and nearby offshore islands in Manus Province of Papua New Guinea. The exact number of languages is difficult to determine because they form a dialect continuum. The name Manus originally designated an ethnic group whose members spoke closely related languages and whose coastal dwellers tended to build their houses on stilts out over the sea.
Futuna-Aniwa is a language spoken in the Tafea Province of Vanuatu on the outlier islands of Futuna and Aniwa. The language has approximately 1,500 speakers. It is a Polynesian language, part of the Austronesian language family.
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.
Sa or Saa language is an Austronesian language spoken in southern Pentecost Island, Vanuatu. It had an estimated 2,500 speakers in the year 2000.
Apma is the language of central Pentecost island in Vanuatu. Apma is an Oceanic language. Within Vanuatu it sits between North Vanuatu and Central Vanuatu languages, and combines features of both groups.
Sowa was the original language of south-central Pentecost island in Vanuatu. In the 20th century it was totally displaced by Apma, a neighbouring language. Sowa was closely related to Ske, another south Pentecost language.
Anejom̃ or Aneityum is an Oceanic language spoken by 900 people on Aneityum Island, Vanuatu. It is the only indigenous language of Aneityum.
Erromangan, or Sie (Sye), is the primary language spoken on the island Erromango in the Tafea region of the Vanuatu islands. The other Erromanga languages are either moribund or extinct. Although the island is quite large (887 km2), the total number of speakers of Erromango is estimated at 1900.
Raga is the language of northern Pentecost Island in Vanuatu. Like all Vanuatu languages, Raga belongs to the Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian languages family. In old sources the language is sometimes referred to by the names of villages in which it is spoken, such as Bwatvenua (Qatvenua), Lamalanga, Vunmarama and Loltong.
Ske is an endangered language of south-western Pentecost island in Vanuatu. Ske is an Oceanic language.
Avava (Navava), also known as Katbol, Tembimbe-Katbol, or Bangsa’ is an Oceanic language of central Malekula, Vanuatu. It has nasalized fricatives and a bilabial trill.
Ahamb, also spelled Axamb or Akhamb is an Oceanic language spoken in South Malakula, Vanuatu.
Ura is a moribund language of the island Erromango in Vanuatu. It was thought to be extinct, after massive depopulation of the island in the nineteenth century, until Terry Crowley discovered a handful of elderly speakers in the 1990s.
Lenakel, or West Tanna, is a dialect chain spoken on the western coast of Tanna Island in Vanuatu.
Litzlitz, also known as Naman, is an endangered Oceanic language of central Malakula, Vanuatu. Many of the languages in Malakula can be referred to by different names, Litzlitz being an example of this. Naman was spoken in central Malakua in an area referred to as the "Dog's Neck" by the locals. The territory over which the Naman language was spoken is about 13 kilometers. This language once had many speakers, but now has been classified as a dying language with only fifteen to twenty native speakers. Native Naman speakers who one resided in the small villages of Metenesel in the Lambumbu area of Malakula had moved to what is now known as the Litzlitz village. They had moved because of diseases such as influenza and other epidemics, which contributed to the population decrease in the Naman speakers. Malakula has many languages, however Uripiv has become the dominant language of the Northeast Malakula area.
Aveteian is a possibly extinct language of Vanuatu, presumably one of the Malekula Interior languages. In the early twentieth century it was spoken by a few families living to the north of Ninde.
The voiceless bilabial trill is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ʙ̥⟩. The X-SAMPA symbol is B\_0
Tirax is an Oceanic language spoken in north east Malakula, Vanuatu.