Unua language

Unua
Native toVanuatu
RegionMalekula
Native speakers
(750 cited 1999)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3onu
Glottologunua1237
ELPUnua
Unua is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Unua, or Onua, is an Oceanic language spoken in south-east Malekula, Vanuatu. It is said to be a dialect of the same language, Unua-Pangkumu, as Rerep (Pangkumu).[2]

Phonology

The following table lists the contrastive consonant sounds of Unua. There are 16 consonant phonemes for younger Unua speakers and an additional three contrastive velarized labial consonants for older speakers, shown below in parentheses.

Consonants
Bilabial Coronal Dorsal
plain labial
Nasal m n
Plosive voiceless p (pʷ) t k
prenasal ᵐb (ᵐbʷ) ⁿd ᵑɡ
Affricate t͡ʃ
Fricative β (βʷ) s ɣ
Rhotic/Trill ᵐʙ ɾ, r
Approximant l


The following table lists the contrastive vowel sounds of Unua. Younger speakers have five vowel phonemes and older speakers have an additional three, shown in parentheses.

Vowels
Front Central Back
High i (ʉ) u
Mid e (ø) (ɵ) o
Low a

Grammar

Unua has SVO ordering.

References

  1. ^ Unua at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Pearce, Elizabeth (2015). A Grammar of Unua. Boston/Berlin/Munich: De Gruyter Mouton. ISBN 978-1-61451-765-8.


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