Nume language

---

title: "Nume 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"] description: "Austronesian language spoken in Vanuatu" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nume_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	Nume
altname	Tarasag, Gog
states	Vanuatu
region	Gaua
speakers	700
date	2012
ref
familycolor	Austronesian
fam2	Malayo-Polynesian
fam3	Oceanic
fam4	Southern Oceanic
fam5	North-Central Vanuatu
fam6	North Vanuatu
fam7	Torres-Banks
iso3	tgs
glotto	nume1241
glottorefname	Nume
::

|name=Nume |altname=Tarasag, Gog |states=Vanuatu |region=Gaua |speakers=700 |date=2012 |ref= |familycolor=Austronesian |fam2=Malayo-Polynesian |fam3=Oceanic |fam4=Southern Oceanic |fam5=North-Central Vanuatu |fam6=North Vanuatu |fam7=Torres-Banks |iso3=tgs |glotto=nume1241 |glottorefname=Nume 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.

Nume is a distinct language from its immediate southern neighbors, Mwerlap and Dorig.

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. ::data[format=table title="Consonants"]

Labiovelar	Bilabial	Alveolar	Dorsal	Voiceless stop	Prenasalized stop	Fricative	Nasal	Rhotic	Lateral	Approximant
::

• /β/ can also be heard as [ɸ] among speakers.

Nume has 7 phonemic vowels, which are all short monophthongs.

:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |+ Vowels ! ! Front ! Back |- |
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Grammar

The system of personal pronouns in Nume contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes four numbers (singular, dual, trial, plural).

Spatial reference in Nume is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals, which is typical of Oceanic languages.

References

Bibliography

• {{citation |doi=10.1353/ol.2005.0034 |last=François |first=Alexandre |year=2005a |title=Unraveling the history of the vowels of seventeen northern Vanuatu languages |journal=Oceanic Linguistics |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=443–504 |s2cid=131668754 |url=https://marama.huma-num.fr/data/AlexFrancois_VowelsNorthernVanuatu_OL44-2.pdf
• {{citation |last=François |first=Alexandre |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 |ref=ecology |hdl=1885/29283 |s2cid=42217419 |hdl-access=free
• {{citation |last=François |first=Alexandre |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=214 |issue= |doi=10.1515/ijsl-2012-0022 |pages=85–110 |s2cid=145208588 |url=https://marama.huma-num.fr/data/AlexFrancois_2012_NorthVanuatuSocioling_IJSL.pdf |ref=AF-diversity
• {{Cite book | publisher = Asia-Pacific Linguistics | isbn = 978-1-922185-23-5 | pages = 137–195 |editor1= Alexandre François |editor2=Sébastien Lacrampe |editor3=Michael Franjieh |editor4=Stefan Schnell | last = François | first = Alexandre | 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 | url = http://hdl.handle.net/1885/14819 | contribution-url= https://marama.huma-num.fr/data/AlexFrancois_2015_North-Vanuatu-space-directionals.pdf | date = 2015 | hdl = 1885/14819 | ref = updown }}
• {{citation |last=François |first=Alexandre |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_s.pdf |ref=pronouns

References

1. [[#AF-diversity. François (2012)]]: 88).
2. [https://marama.huma-num.fr/AF-field.htm List of Banks islands languages].
3. [[#vowels. François (2005a)]]: 445).
4. [[#pronouns. François (2016)]].
5. [[#updown. François (2015)]].

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