Group of related Oceanic languages in northern Vanuatu
TheTorres–Banks languages form alinkage ofSouthern Oceanic languages spoken in theTorres Islands andBanks Islands of northernVanuatu .
François (2011) recognizes 17 languages spoken by 9,400 people in 50 villages, including 16 living (3 of which are moribund) and one extinct language.[ 1]
The 17 languages, ranked from northwest to southeast, are:[ 1] : 181
Comparative studies [ edit ] A. François has published several studies comparing various features of the Torres–Banks languages:
François (2005) : Inventories of vowel systems, and their historical development;François (2007) : Systems of noun articles, and their historical development;François (2009) : How several languages grammaticalized a set of light personal pronouns into markers for “aorist” aspect;François (2011) : How Torres–Banks languages tend to show structural isomorphism, yet lexical diversity;François (2013) : Etymological reconstruction of spiritual terms in Torres–Banks languages;François (2015) : Systems of geocentric space directionals, and their historical development;François (2016) : Historical morphology of personal pronouns.François (2012) is asociolinguistic study of the area.
[ edit ] The internal structure of the Torres–Banks linkage was assessed based on theComparative method , and presented in the framework ofhistorical glottometry (François 2014 ,2017 ;Kalyan & François 2018 ).
Kalyan & François (2018: 81) identified the following best-supported subgroups (in decreasing order of genealogical closeness):
Mwotlap – Volow Hiw – Lo-Toga Vurës – Mwesen Lemerig – Vera'a Koro – Olrat – Lakon Dorig – Koro – Olrat – Lakon Olrat – Lakon Lehali – Löyöp – Mwotlap – Volow 15 Banks languages together(Lehali – Löyöp – Mwotlap – Volow – Lemerig – Vera'a – Vurës – Mwesen – Mota – Nume – Dorig – Koro – Olrat – Lakon – Mwerlap) It is possible that the strict common ancestor of any two members of the Torres–Banks linkage isProto-Oceanic itself.[ 1] : 188 Lakon (via a now-lostparagogic vowel) in some words, consonants which were lost in most other languages.[ 2] [ 1] : 200
Thecommon ancestor of all Torres-Banks languages is calledProto-Torres–Banks , viewed here as a mutually-intelligible chain of dialects within the Torres and Banks islands.[ 1] : 190
Codrington, Robert Henry (1885).The Melanesian Languages . Oxford: Clarendon Press (full text from the Internet Archive ).François, Alexandre (2005),"Unraveling the history of the vowels of seventeen northern Vanuatu languages" (PDF) ,Oceanic Linguistics ,44 (2):443– 504,doi :10.1353/ol.2005.0034 —— (2007),"Noun articles in Torres and Banks languages: Conservation and innovation" (PDF) , in Siegel, Jeff; Lynch, John; Eades, Diana (eds.),Language Description, History and Development: Linguistic indulgence in memory of Terry Crowley , Creole Language Library 30, Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 313– 326 —— (2009),"Verbal aspect and personal pronouns: The history of aorist markers in north Vanuatu" (PDF) , in Pawley, Andrew; Adelaar, Alexander (eds.),Austronesian historical linguistics and culture history: A festschrift for Bob Blust , vol. 601, Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, pp. 179– 195 —— (2011),"Social ecology and language history in the northern Vanuatu linkage: A tale of divergence and convergence" (PDF) ,Journal of Historical Linguistics ,1 (2):175– 246,doi :10.1075/jhl.1.2.03fra ,hdl :1885/29283 —— (2012),"The dynamics of linguistic diversity: Egalitarian multilingualism and power imbalance among northern Vanuatu languages" (PDF) ,International Journal of the Sociology of Language (214):85– 110,doi :10.1515/ijsl-2012-0022 —— (2013),"Shadows of bygone lives: The histories of spiritual words in northern Vanuatu" (PDF) , in Mailhammer, Robert (ed.),Lexical and structural etymology: Beyond word histories , Studies in Language Change, vol. 11, Berlin: DeGruyter Mouton, pp. 185– 244,ISBN 978-1-61451-058-1 —— (2014),"Trees, Waves and Linkages: Models of Language Diversification" , in Bowern, Claire; Evans, Bethwyn (eds.),The Routledge Handbook of Historical Linguistics , London: Routledge, pp. 161– 189,ISBN 978-0-41552-789-7 —— (2015)."The ins and outs ofup anddown : Disentangling the nine geocentric space systems of Torres and Banks languages" (PDF) . In Alexandre François; Sébastien Lacrampe; Michael Franjieh; Stefan Schnell (eds.).The languages of Vanuatu: Unity and diversity 137– 195.hdl :1885/14819 .ISBN 978-1-922185-23-5 —— (2016),"The historical morphology of personal pronouns in northern Vanuatu" (PDF) , in Pozdniakov, Konstantin (ed.),Comparatisme et reconstruction : tendances actuelles , Faits de Langues, vol. 47, Bern: Peter Lang, pp. 25– 60 —— (2017)."Méthode comparative et chaînages linguistiques: Pour un modèle diffusionniste en généalogie des langues" (PDF) . In Jean-Léo Léonard (ed.).Diffusion : implantation, affinités, convergence . Mémoires de la Société de Linguistique de Paris. Louvain: Peeters. pp. 43– 82. Kalyan, Siva; François, Alexandre (2018),"Freeing the Comparative Method from the tree model: A framework for Historical Glottometry" (PDF) , in Kikusawa, Ritsuko; Reid, Laurie (eds.),Let's talk about trees: Tackling Problems in Representing Phylogenic Relationships among Languages , Senri Ethnological Studies, 98, Ōsaka: National Museum of Ethnology, pp. 59– 89 Ray, Sidney Herbert (1926).A Comparative Study of the Melanesian Island Languages ISBN 9781107682023 {{cite book }}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help )
* indicates proposed status ? indicates classification dispute † indicatesextinct status
