Languages of Vanuatu - Indigenous Languages

Indigenous Languages

All of the indigenous languages of Vanuatu are Austronesian languages and most are grouped in the Northern Vanuatu branch. The Melanesian languages of Tafea province in the south are South Vanuatu languages. Many of the languages are named after the island they are spoken on, though some of the larger islands have several different languages. Espiritu Santo and Malakula are the most linguistically diverse, with about two dozen languages each. Many of these languages are very little-studied.

There are three Polynesian outlier languages in Vanuatu, all of which assigned to the Futunic languages subgroup: Emae on the island of Emae, Mele-Fila on the southern part of Efate and Futuna-Aniwa on Futuna and Aniwa.

According to Ethnologue's somewhat outdated statistics, the eight most commonly spoken local languages are: Raga (wrongly called Hano by Ethnologue; 7,000 speakers), Lenakel(fr) (6,500), Paama (6,000), Uripiv (6,000), East Ambae (5,000), West Ambae (4,500), Apma (4,500), and South Efate (3,750).

However, because none of the above languages have a standard form, it is difficult to distinguish when these represent separate languages or merely dialects. This is compounded by the fact that many of the languages have not received adequate linguistic treatment. Uripiv, for example, is a dialect continuum spoken across several islands in Malampa Province.