South Vanuatu languages
The nine South Vanuatu languages form a family of the Southern Oceanic languages, spoken in Tafea Province of Vanuatu.
Languages
- Tanna family
- *Southern: Kwamera, Southwest Tanna
- *Northern: Lenakel, Whitesands, North Tanna
- Aneityum
- *Aneityum
François ''et al.'' (2015)
| No. | Language | Other names | Speakers | ISO 639-3 | Region |
| 128 | Sie | Se, Erromanga | 1900 | erg | Erromango |
| 129 | Ura | 6 | uur | Erromango | |
| 130 | Utaha | 0 | iff | Erromango | |
| 131 | North Tanna | 5000 | tnn | Tanna | |
| 132 | Lenakel | Netvaar | 11500 | tnl | Tanna |
| 133 | Southwest Tanna | Nawal | 5000 | nwi | Tanna |
| 134 | Whitesands | Narak | 7500 | tnp | Tanna |
| 135 | Kwamera | Nafe, Nɨfe | 3500 | tnk | Tanna |
| 137 | Anejom̃ | Aneityum | 900 | aty | Aneityum |
Proto-South Vanuatu
Proto-South Vanuatu was reconstructed by John Lynch in 2001.The language, compared to Proto-Oceanic, went through a series of vowel reductions, leading to the creation of a new vowel written as *ə, such as in *na-waiR "fresh water" resulting in Proto-South Vanuatu *nə-wai of the same meaning.
However, it also preserves some, but not all final consonants. For example, *tanum "to plant, bury" is reflected in Proto-South Vanuatu as *-tenum "to bury", but *taŋis "to cry" is instead reflected as *-taŋi.
Vowels
The vowels of Proto-South Vanuatu, according to Lynch, are:| Front | Central | Back | |
| Close | |||
| Close-mid | |||
| Open |