Lemerig language
Austronesian language spoken in Vanuatu
title: "Lemerig language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["languages-of-vanuatu", "banks–torres-languages", "torba-province", "endangered-austronesian-languages", "critically-endangered-languages"] description: "Austronesian language spoken in Vanuatu" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemerig_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Austronesian language spoken in Vanuatu ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Lemerig |
| pronunciation | |
| altname | Pak, Päk, Sasar |
| states | Vanuatu |
| region | Vanua Lava |
| speakers | 2 |
| date | 2010 |
| ref | |
| familycolor | Austronesian |
| fam2 | Malayo-Polynesian |
| fam3 | Oceanic |
| fam4 | Southern Oceanic |
| fam5 | North-Central Vanuatu |
| fam6 | North Vanuatu |
| fam7 | Torres-Banks |
| iso3 | lrz |
| glotto | leme1238 |
| glottorefname | Lemerig |
| dia1 | Alo-Teqel |
| dia2 | Päk |
| dia3 | Sasar |
| map | Lang Status 20-CR.svg |
| mapcaption | |
| :: |
| name = Lemerig | pronunciation = | altname = Pak, Päk, Sasar | states = Vanuatu | region = Vanua Lava | speakers = 2 | date = 2010 | ref = | familycolor = Austronesian | fam2 = Malayo-Polynesian | fam3 = Oceanic | fam4 = Southern Oceanic | fam5 = North-Central Vanuatu | fam6 = North Vanuatu | fam7 = Torres-Banks | iso3 = lrz | glotto = leme1238 | glottorefname = Lemerig | dia1 = Alo-Teqel | dia2 = Päk | dia3 = Sasar | map = Lang Status 20-CR.svg | mapcaption =
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/WIKITONGUES-_Isso_speaking_Lemerig.webm" caption="One of the two remaining speakers of Lemerig, a man from the village of Lalngetak, speaking the Päk dialect, recorded in [[Vanua Lava]], [[Vanuatu"] ::
Lemerig is an Oceanic language spoken on Vanua Lava, in Vanuatu.
The language is no longer actively spoken, having receded in favour of its neighbors, including Vera'a and possibly also Mwotlap or Vurës. The two remaining speakers live on the northern coast of the island.
Name
The name Lemerig refers to a now abandoned village in northern Vanua Lava; it is spelled Lēmērig in the language of the same name. It reflects an earlier Proto-Torres-Banks form *lemeriɣi, where the *riɣi component likely means "small".
Dialects
Lemerig has sometimes been referred to using the names of its local varieties: Päk,Päk is a village on the north coast of Vanua Lava island, today often referred to using its Mwotlap name Abek (with locative). Due to its vowel (potentially ambiguous to Western ears), the original name in Lemerig was spelled Pak in Codrington 1885 (pp.39 sqq), but Pek in Codrington 1891 (p.81). Sasar, and Alo-Teqel.
Judging from wordlists published by missionary and linguist Robert Codrington, these three varieties were very close to each other. The little differences there were went extinct during the 20th century.
Phonology
Lemerig has 11 phonemic vowels. These are all short monophthongs . ::data[format=table title="Lemerig vowels"]
| Front | Back | plain | round | Close | Near-close | Open-mid | Near-open | Open |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
Grammar
The system of personal pronouns in Lemerig contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes four numbers (singular, dual, trial, and plural).
Spatial reference in Lemerig is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals, which is in part typical of Oceanic languages, in part innovative.
Notes
References
Bibliography
- {{cite book |last=Codrington |first=Robert Henry |author-link=Robert Henry Codrington |year=1885 |title = The Melanesian Languages |volume = 47 |pages = 25–60 |publisher = Clarendon Press |place = Oxford |url= https://archive.org/details/melanesianlangua00codruoft |ref=RHC
- {{cite book|last1=Codrington|first1=Robert Henry|title=The Melanesians: Studies in Their Anthropology and Folk-lore|date=1891|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=New York|isbn=9780486202587|page=|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Melanesians:_Studies_in_their_Anthropology_and_Folklore|language=en |ref=RHC_tM}}
- {{cite journal |last=François |first=Alexandre |author-link = Alexandre François (linguist) |year=2011 |title=Social ecology and language history in the northern Vanuatu linkage: A tale of divergence and convergence |journal=Journal of Historical Linguistics |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=175–246 |doi=10.1075/jhl.1.2.03fra |url=https://marama.huma-num.fr/data/AlexFrancois_2011_JHL1-2_Social-ecology_Vanuatu.pdf |hdl=1885/29283 |s2cid=42217419 |hdl-access=free
- {{cite journal |last=François |first=Alexandre |author-mask=2 |year=2012 |title=The dynamics of linguistic diversity: Egalitarian multilingualism and power imbalance among northern Vanuatu languages |journal=International Journal of the Sociology of Language |volume=2012 |issue=214 |doi=10.1515/ijsl-2012-0022 |pages=85–110 |s2cid=145208588 |url=https://marama.huma-num.fr/data/AlexFrancois_2012_NorthVanuatuSocioling_IJSL.pdf
- {{Cite book | publisher = Asia-Pacific Linguistics | isbn = 978-1-922185-23-5 | pages = 137–195 |editor=Alexandre François |editor2=Sébastien Lacrampe |editor3=Michael Franjieh |editor4=Stefan Schnell | last = François | first = Alexandre |author-mask=2 | title = The languages of Vanuatu: Unity and diversity | chapter = The ins and outs of up and down: Disentangling the nine geocentric space systems of Torres and Banks languages | location = Canberra | series = Studies in the Languages of Island Melanesia | contribution-url = https://marama.huma-num.fr/data/AlexFrancois_2015_North-Vanuatu-space-directionals.pdf | date = 2015
- {{cite book |last=François |first=Alexandre |author-mask=2 |year=2016 |contribution = The historical morphology of personal pronouns in northern Vanuatu |editor1-last = Pozdniakov |editor1-first = Konstantin |title = Comparatisme et reconstruction : tendances actuelles |volume = 47 |pages = 25–60 |publisher = Peter Lang |place = Bern |series = Faits de Langues |contribution-url= https://marama.huma-num.fr/data/AlexFrancois_2016_History-personal-pronouns_north-Vanuatu.pdf
- {{cite web |url=https://pangloss.cnrs.fr/corpus/Lemerig?lang=en&mode=pro&seeMore=true |title=Presentation of the Lemerig language and audio archive |last=François |first=Alexandre | author-mask=2 |date=2021 |website=Pangloss Collection |location=Paris |publisher=CNRS |access-date=19 Nov 2023 |quote= |ref=pangloss}}
- François, Alexandre & Taitus Sërortēlsöm (2006). Nvāv ām a Lēmērig — Storian long lanwis blong Lemerig (Vanua Lava, Banks, Vanuatu). Collection of stories from the oral tradition, monolingual in Lemerig. Paris.
References
- [https://marama.huma-num.fr/AF-field.htm#Vanuatu List of Banks islands languages].
- See [[#RHC. Codrington 1885]], [https://archive.org/details/melanesianlangua00codruoft/page/39/mode/1up pp.39-52 sqq.].
- See [[#pangloss. François 2021]].
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