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Nume
Tarasag, Gog
Native to Vanuatu
Region Gaua
Native speakers
700 (2012) [1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 tgs
Glottolog nume1241
ELP Nume

Nume (also called Gog and Tarasag) is an Oceanic language spoken on Gaua island in Vanuatu. Its 700 speakers live on the northeast coast of Gaua. [1]

Nume is a distinct language from its immediate southern neighbors, Mwerlap and Dorig. [2]

Names

The name Nume originates in the name of a village, now abandoned. Tarasag is currently the community's main village. The alternate name Gog refers to the broader area, and by extension, to the island.

Phonology

Nume has 15 consonant phonemes. [3]

Consonants
Labiovelar Bilabial Alveolar Dorsal
Voiceless stop k͡p ʷ ⟨q⟩ t ⟨t⟩ k ⟨k⟩
Prenasalized stop ᵐb ⟨b⟩ ⁿd ⟨d⟩
Fricative β ⟨v⟩ s ⟨s⟩ ɣ ⟨g⟩
Nasal ŋ͡m ʷ ⟨m̄⟩ m ⟨m⟩ n ⟨n⟩ ŋ ⟨n̄⟩
Rhotic r ⟨r⟩
Lateral l ⟨l⟩
Approximant w ⟨w⟩
  • /β/ can also be heard as [ɸ] among speakers.

Nume has 7 phonemic vowels, which are all short monophthongs. [4]

Vowels
Front Back
Close i ⟨i⟩ u ⟨u⟩
Near-close ɪ ⟨ē⟩ ʊ ⟨ō⟩
Open-mid ɛ ⟨e⟩ ɔ ⟨o⟩
Open a ⟨a⟩

Grammar

The system of personal pronouns in Nume contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes four numbers (singular, dual, trial, plural). [5]

Spatial reference in Nume is based on a system of geocentric ( absolute) directionals, which is typical of Oceanic languages. [6]

References

Bibliography

  • François, Alexandre (2005a), "Unraveling the history of the vowels of seventeen northern Vanuatu languages" (PDF), Oceanic Linguistics, 44 (2): 443–504, doi: 10.1353/ol.2005.0034, S2CID  131668754
  • François, Alexandre (2011), "Social ecology and language history in the northern Vanuatu linkage: A tale of divergence and convergence" (PDF), Journal of Historical Linguistics, 1 (2): 175–246, doi: 10.1075/jhl.1.2.03fra, hdl: 1885/29283, S2CID  42217419.
  • François, Alexandre (2012), "The dynamics of linguistic diversity: Egalitarian multilingualism and power imbalance among northern Vanuatu languages" (PDF), International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2012 (214): 85–110, doi: 10.1515/ijsl-2012-0022, S2CID  145208588
  • François, Alexandre (2015). "The ins and outs of up and down: Disentangling the nine geocentric space systems of Torres and Banks languages" (PDF). In Alexandre François; Sébastien Lacrampe; Michael Franjieh; Stefan Schnell (eds.). The languages of Vanuatu: Unity and diversity. Studies in the Languages of Island Melanesia. Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics. pp. 137–195. hdl: 1885/14819. ISBN  978-1-922185-23-5.
  • François, Alexandre (2016), "The historical morphology of personal pronouns in northern Vanuatu" (PDF), in Pozdniakov, Konstantin (ed.), Comparatisme et reconstruction : tendances actuelles, Faits de Langues, vol. 47, Bern: Peter Lang, pp. 25–60
  • François, Alexandre (2022). "Presentation of the Nume language, and audio archive". Pangloss Collection. Paris: CNRS. Retrieved 20 March 2023.

External links