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Wailapa language

Wailapa
Moiso, Ale
Native toVanuatu
RegionEspiritu Santo
Native speakers
500[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3wlr
Glottologwail1242
ELPWailapa
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

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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 Wailapa.[8][4]

Selected vocabulary

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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

[edit]
  1. ^ François (2015), p.19
  2. ^ a b "Glottolog 5.1 - Ale". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2025-02-08.
  3. ^ a b c "Wailapa | Ethnologue Free". Ethnologue (Free All). Archived from the original on 2023-03-09. Retrieved 2025-02-08.
  4. ^ a b 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. ^ a b 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.