| West Uvean | |
|---|---|
| Fagauvea | |
| Native to | New Caledonia |
| Region | Ouvéa |
Native speakers | 2,200 (2009 census)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | uve |
| Glottolog | west2516 |
 West Uvean is classified as Vulnerable by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
West Uvean (alsoUvean orFaga Ouvéa;Fagauvea in the vernacular) is aPolynesianoutlier language spoken on the island ofOuvéa, in theLoyalty island group ofNew Caledonia, and in the capital of Nouméa.
West Uvean has been studied by linguistsFrançoise Ozanne-Rivierre andClaire Moyse-Faurie.
The speakers designate their language by the nameFagauvea, which is also the name used in French.The nameWest Uvean sometimes used in English is meant to distinguish the language from the relatedEast Uvean orWallisian, spoken onWallis Island (ʻUvea).
West Uvean has long been in contact withIaai, theSouthern Oceanic language also spoken on the same island. This contact has resulted in four vowels being added to the phonemic system of West Uvean; and to a complexification of the syllable structure, allowing for final consonants.[2]: 534
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | voiceless | m̥ | n̥ | |||||
| voiced | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | ʈ | c | k | ||
| voiced | b | d | ɖ | ɟ | ɡ | |||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | θ | s | ʃ | h | ||
| voiced | v | |||||||
| Rhotic | (ɾ) | |||||||
| Approximant | voiceless | w̥ | l̥ | |||||
| voiced | w | l | ||||||
/ɾ/ is only heard in intervocalic position.[2]
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | y | u | |
| Mid | e | œ | ə | o |
| Low | æ | a | ||
West Uvean is the only Polynesian language to use aquinary numeral system. While Polynesian languages historically have a decimal system, West Uvean evolved to a quinary system, under influence of itsIaai neighbour.
There are two sets of numerals from 11 to 20, the second way was the archaic form.The wordtupu means'sum',teanua intahi a teanua means'human body', andnea intahi enea means'man'.[clarification needed] Nowadays, the West Uvea or Faga Uvea people useFrench orIaai numeral systems more frequently.
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