Espiritu Santo languages

The Espiritu Santo languages (alternatively Santo languages) are a group of North Vanuatu languages spoken on Espiritu Santo Island in northern Vanuatu. Tryon (2010) considers the Espiritu Santo languages to be a coherent group.^[1]

Languages

Two lists of Espiritu Santo languages from Tryon (2010) and François (2015) are provided below.

Tryon (2010)

Tryon (2010) recognizes 33 living languages and 2 extinct languages. They are:^[1]

François (2015)

The following list of 38 Espiritu Santo languages is from Alexandre François (2015:18-21).

Lynch (2019)

John Lynch (2019)^[2] proposes the following classification scheme for the Espiritu Santo languages, with the development of bilabial consonants to linguolabials as the primary marker of the "Nuclear Santo" group:

Espiritu Santo
- West Santo Group
  - Cape Cumberland: Hukua, Vunapu, Piamatsina (uncertain), Valpei, Nokuku, Tasmate
  - Wusi
  - Central Santo: Merei-Tiale, Okula
  - Kiai
  - Southwest Santo: Akei, Wailapa
  - South-Central Santo (Lynch: "possibly three dialects")
  - Outlier: Tolomako
- Nuclear Santo Group
  - South Santo Group
    - Tangoa
    - Araki
    - Mav'ea
    - Tutuba
    - Aore
    - Tamambo
    - Outlier: Mores
  - East Santo Group
    - Shark Bay: Shark Bay I, Shark Bay II, Lorediakarkar
    - Southeast Santo: Butmas-Tur, Polonombauk, Tambotalo
    - Outlier: Sakao

References

^ a b Tryon, Darrell. 2010. The languages of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu. In John Bowden and Nikolaus P. Himmelmann and Malcolm Ross (eds.), A journey through Austronesian and Papuan linguistic and cultural space: papers in honour of Andrew K. Pawley, 283-290. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
^ Lynch, John (December 2019). "The Bilabial-to-Linguolabial Shift in Southern Oceanic: A Subgrouping Diagnostic?". Oceanic Linguistics. 58 (2): 292–323. doi:10.1353/ol.2019.0010. Retrieved January 16, 2022.

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, Studies in the Languages of Island Melanesia, Canberra: Asia Pacific Linguistics Open Access, pp. 1–21, ISBN 9781922185235.