Maskelynes
Kuliviu, Uliveo
Native to	Vanuatu
Region	Malekula
Native speakers	1,100 (2001)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southern Oceanic North-Central Vanuatu Central Vanuatu Malakula Malakula Coastal Maskelynes
Language codes
ISO 639-3	klv
Glottolog	mask1242
Maskelynes is not endangered according to the classification system of theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Maskelynes (/ˈmæskəlɪns/), orKuliviu (Uliveo), is anOceanic language spoken on theMaskelyne Islands off southMalekula,Vanuatu.

• /ᵐb,ⁿd,ᵑg/ are infree variation asunreleased[ᵐb̚,ⁿd̚,ᵑg̚] or unvoiced[p,t,k] word-finally or before a consonant^[2]
  • /ᵑg/ is also in free variation asnasal[ŋ] word-finally, especially among young speakers^[3]
• /ᵑg/ is realized as a voiceless[k] among some speakers, especially young^[3]
• /p,pʷ,t/ are unreleased[p̚,p̚,t̚] word-finally or before a consonant (though/p/ has never been recorded before a consonant)^[4]
• /mʷ,pʷ,ᵐbʷ,βʷ/ lose their labialization word-finally when not followed by a vowel and before/o,u/^[5]
  • /ᵐbʷ/ is in free variation astrilled[ᵐʙ] (tapped[ᵐⱱ̟] inPeskarus) before/u/ and sometimes before/ə/^[3]
• /βʷ/ is[β] before voiced consonants^[6]
• /β,βʷ/ are [ɸ] before voiceless consonants and word-finally^[6]
• /β/ is in free variation with[ɸ] for some speakers^[6]
• /w,j/ are vocalic[u,i] when innucleus following/e,a,o/^[7]

• /i/ isnear-close[ɪ] between front consonants^[8]
• /ɛ/ isclose-mid[e] word-finally^[8]
• /ə/ is[ɵ] after labiovelarized consonants or before/xu̥/^[8]
• /əj,əw/ are realised as single morphemes,[i,u]^[7]
• /u/ is realised as front[y] between front consonants, andnear-close[ʊ] when proceeded or preceded by back consonants^[9]
• /o/ is front[ø] between front consonants^[9]

A voiceless[u̥] occurs at the ends of words. It is uncertain if it is anallophone of/u/ or a separate phoneme^[10]

Possible syllable structures in Maskelynes: (C/S)V(S)(C)^[11]

The verbs of Maskelynes areagglutinative, mostly being modified byprefixes, though the stem of a verb can stand on its own. These prefixes encode for, in order of appearance in verb: 1.tense-aspect-modes; 2. subject, person and number; 3. variousmodes, includingrealis andirrealis; 4. twotense-modes; 5. reduplication. The object of a sentence is encoded by a suffix.^[12]

Examples of verbal agglutination:^[13]

Reduplication in Maskelynes has various usages, and can encode for e.g.plurality,habituality,iterative aspect, etc.^[14]

• Resources in and about the Maskelynes language atOLAC
• Paradisec hasa number of collections that include Maskelynes language materials
• Maskelynes (Kuliviu) atOmniglot

• Malekula languages
• Languages of Vanuatu

• Pages containing links to subscription-only content
• Language articles citing Ethnologue 18
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Pages with plain IPA
• Articles with ambiguous glossing abbreviations