Kiai is an Oceanic language spoken by about 450 people in the central highlands of Espiritu Santo island (Sanma Province), in Vanuatu.[2]
| Kiai | |
|---|---|
| Fortsenal | |
| Vara Kiai | |
| Native to | Vanuatu |
| Region | Espiritu Santo Island |
Native speakers | 450 (2001)[1] |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Vanuatu |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | frt |
| Glottolog | fort1240 |
| ELP | Kiai |
 Kiai is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Name
editThe name Kiai derives from kiai, meaning "no", due to a trend in the area to name languages based on their word for "no", used as a linguistic shibboleth. The language is called vara Kiai (from vara "speech, language"), i.e. 'the language that says kiai [for no]".
The same language has been named Fortsenal, based on the name of the village (locally Vorozenale) where the speakers live.[3]
Notes
edit- ^ Kiai at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ François, Alexandre; Franjieh, Michael; Lacrampe, Sébastien; Schnell, Stefan (2015). "The exceptional linguistic density of Vanuatu" (PDF). In François, Alexandre; Lacrampe, Sébastien; Franjieh, Michael; Schnell, Stefan (eds.). The Languages of Vanuatu: Unity and Diversity. Canberra: Asia Pacific Linguistics Open Access. pp. 1–21. ISBN 9781922185235.
- ^ Clark, Ross (2009). Leo Tuai: A comparative lexical study of North and Central Vanuatu languages. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. doi:10.15144/PL-603. ISSN 1448-8310.
References
edit- Vara Kiai: a Kiai wordlist / Tomas Ludvigson, Auckland [N.Z.] : Dept. of Anthropology, University of Auckland, 1989
- Crowley, Terry. 2000. The language situation in Vanuatu. Current Issues in Language Planning, 1(1). 47–132.