Wailapa language

Wailapa
Moiso, Ale
Native to	Vanuatu
Region	Espiritu Santo
Native speakers	500 [1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southern Oceanic North-Central Vanuatu North Vanuatu Espiritu Santo Wailapa
Language codes
ISO 639-3	wlr
Glottolog	wail1242
ELP	Wailapa
Espiritu Santo, where Wailapa is spoken on the southern coast
Wailapa is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Wailapa, or Moiso or Ale, is an Oceanic language ^{[2] [3]} or dialect ^[4] spoken on Espiritu Santo Island in Vanuatu.

It is possibly endangered, ^[5] with its status described as "shifting". ^[6] It is also described as "stable". ^[3]

It has multiple dialects. ^[7]

Classification

Wailapa is generally described as a language, ^{[2] [3]} but also as a dialect of the proposed, lexicostastically defined Southwest Santo language along with Araki, Tangoa, and Akei. ^{[8] [4]}

Selected vocabulary

The list below is a sample of words in Wailapa.  ^[7]

Wailapa	English
patu-ku	head
umʷi-ku	beard
tamanpatu-ku	belly
laso-ku	testicles
marau-ku	left hand
tˢino-ima	door
tikinoβu	centipede
lano	fly (n)
moɂi	mosquito
paɂeo	shark
apa-na	wing
tˢio	grasshopper
aβua	turtle
korui niu	dry coconut
pioro	sandalwood
matˢoe	star
βusiβusi	sand
βaliβali tasi	foam
paka	bow
soɂo	digging stick
βuro	fight
tˢoriɂa	yellow
mo tolu	three
raβurua	seven
mo-βisa	how many
taun	year
inia	he
inira	they
atia	bite
ɂaniɂan	eat
sisia apu	blow
kunu	run

References

1. François (2015), p.19
2. "Glottolog 5.1 - Ale". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2025-02-08.
3. "Wailapa | Ethnologue Free". Ethnologue (Free All). Archived from the original on 2023-03-09. Retrieved 2025-02-08.
4. Lynch, John; Crowley, Terry (2001). Languages of Vanuatu: A New Survey and Bibliography. pp. 51–52. Archived from the original on 19 July 2024.
5. "Did you know Wailapa is endangered?". Endangered Languages. Retrieved 2025-02-08.
6. "Glottolog 5.1 - Ale". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2025-02-08.
7. Tryon, D. T. (Darrell T. ) (1976). New Hebrides languages : an internal classification. Internet Archive. Canberra : Dept. of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. ISBN   978-0-85883-152-0.
8. Lynch, John (2019). "The Bilabial-to-Linguolabial Shift in Southern Oceanic: A Subgrouping Diagnostic?". Oceanic Linguistics. 58 (2): 304. doi:10.1353/ol.2019.0010. ISSN   0029-8115. JSTOR   26905160.