Nume language
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 | |
|---|---|
| Tarasag, Gog | |
| Native to | Vanuatu |
| Region | Gaua |
Native speakers | 700 (2012)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tgs |
| Glottolog | nume1241 |
| ELP | Nume |
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]
| Labiovelar | Bilabial | Alveolar | Dorsal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voiceless stop | k͡pʷ ⟨q⟩ | t ⟨t⟩ | k ⟨k⟩ | |
| Prenasalized stop | ᵐb ⟨b⟩ | ⁿd ⟨d⟩ | ||
| Fricative | β ⟨v⟩ | s ⟨s⟩ | ɣ ⟨g⟩ | |
| Nasal | ŋ͡mʷ ⟨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]
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", Oceanic Linguistics, 44 (2): 443–504, doi:10.1353/ol.2005.0034
- 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.
- 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
- Linguistic map of north Vanuatu, showing range of Nume on Gaua.
- Audio recordings in the Nume language, in open access, by A. François (source: Pangloss Collection).
- U Line Tatar Ve Vosog Le Ale Gavrund Simplified Anglican Morning and Evening Prayer in Nume (c. 1965), digitized by Richard Mammana.