| Southeast Ambrym | |
|---|---|
| Taveak | |
| Native to | Vanuatu |
| Region | Ambrym Island |
Native speakers | 3,700 (2001) [1] |
Austronesian
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tvk |
| Glottolog | sout2859 |
 Southeast Ambrym is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Southeast Ambrym, Vatlongos, or Taveak, is a language of Ambrym Island, Vanuatu. It is closely related to Paamese.
Bislama is an English-based creole language and one of the official languages of Vanuatu. It is the first language of many of the "Urban ni-Vanuatu" and the second language of much of the rest of the country's residents. The lyrics of "Yumi, Yumi, Yumi", the country's national anthem, are composed in Bislama.
Ambrym is a volcanic island in Malampa Province in the archipelago of Vanuatu. Volcanic activity on the island includes lava lakes in two craters near the summit.
The approximately 450 Oceanic languages are a branch of the Austronesian languages. The area occupied by speakers of these languages includes Polynesia, as well as much of Melanesia and Micronesia. Though covering a vast area, Oceanic languages are spoken by only two million people. The largest individual Oceanic languages are Eastern Fijian with over 600,000 speakers, and Samoan with an estimated 400,000 speakers. The Gilbertese (Kiribati), Tongan, Tahitian, Māori and Tolai languages each have over 100,000 speakers. The common ancestor which is reconstructed for this group of languages is called Proto-Oceanic.
The Central Vanuatu languages form a linkage of Southern Oceanic languages spoken in central Vanuatu.
Terence Michael Crowley was a linguist specializing in Oceanic languages as well as Bislama, the English-lexified Creole recognized as a national language in Vanuatu. From 1991 he taught in New Zealand. Previously, he was with the Pacific Languages Unit of the University of the South Pacific in Vanuatu (1983–90) and with the Department of Language and Literature at the University of Papua New Guinea (1979–83).
Paama is a small island in Malampa Province, Vanuatu.
The Southern Oceanic languages are a linkage of Oceanic languages spoken in Vanuatu and New Caledonia. It was proposed by John Lynch in 1995 and supported by later studies. It appears to be a linkage rather than a language family with a clearly defined internal nested structure.
The Republic of Vanuatu has the world's highest linguistic density per capita. Despite being a country with a population of less than 300,000, Vanuatu is home to 138 indigenous Oceanic languages.
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.
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.
Paamese, or Paama, is the language of the island of Paama in Northern Vanuatu. There is no indigenous term for the language; however linguists have adopted the term Paamese to refer to it. Both a grammar and a dictionary of Paamese have been produced by Terry Crowley.
Lonwolwol, Raljago, or West Ambrym, is an Oceanic language of Ambrym Island, Vanuatu with fewer than 100 speakers.
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.
Fanbyak is a minor language of Ambrym Island, Vanuatu.
Port Sandwich, or Lamap, is an Oceanic language spoken in southeast Malekula, Vanuatu, on the eastern tip of the island. It was first described in 1979 by French linguist Jean-Michel Charpentier.
Nisvai is an Oceanic language spoken in southeast Malekula, Vanuatu, on the eastern tip of the island, by about 200 speakers.
Nasvang is an Oceanic language spoken in southeast Malekula, Vanuatu, by about 275 speakers.
Tirax is an Oceanic language spoken in north east Malakula, Vanuatu.
Dalkalaen is a Central Vanuatu language spoken by about 1,000 people on the southwestern tip of Ambrym Island, Vanuatu.