Southwest Tanna is a dialect chain spoken on the southwestern coast of Tanna Island in Vanuatu. Lynch (1982) names three major dialects: Nivhaal in the north-west of the language area (spelt "Nauvhal" in publicity for the 2015 film Tanna), Nivai in the south-west, and Nelpwaai in the north-east.[2]
| Southwest Tanna | |
|---|---|
| Nawal | |
| Native to | Vanuatu |
| Region | Tanna Island |
Native speakers | 4,500 (2011)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | nwi |
| Glottolog | sout2869 |
 Southwest Tanna is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
References
edit- ^ Southwest Tanna at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ John Lynch (1982). "South-West Tanna Grammar Outline and Vocabulary". Papers in Linguistics of Melanesia. 4.
External links
edit- Database of audio recordings in language of Tanna, Southwest - basic Catholic prayers
- Paradisec has two collections of Arthur Cappell's materials (AC1, AC2) that include Southwest Tanna language materials.
- Nehrbass's Comprehensive lexicon contains data on the dialects of the Southwest Tanna language ([1])