Photos • Location
| Engdewu | |
|---|---|
| Nanggu | |
| Native to | Solomon Islands |
| Region | Nendo Island |
Native speakers | (210 cited 1999) [1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
ngr |
| Glottolog |
nang1262 |
| ELP | Nagu |
| Coordinates: 10°44′S 165°53′E / 10.733°S 165.883°E | |
Engdewu, also known as Nanggu or Nagu, is one of two Reefs – Santa Cruz languages spoken on Nendö Island (the other is Santa Cruz).
Names
The language used to be known by outsiders as Nanggu (IPA: [naᵑɡu]), from the name of one of the villages where it is still spoken. This name is also spelled Nangu or Nagu.
The local population prefers to name the language Engdewu, after the name of the ancient village where it was initially spoken. [2] [3] This name has now been adopted by linguists. [1]
Grammar
A description of the language was produced in 2013 by linguist Anders Vaa. [4]
Phonology
Consonants
Nanggu has 14 phonemic consonants. [5]
| Labial | Alveolar |
Alveolo- palatal |
Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | Voiceless | p | t | k | ||
| Voiced | b | d | g | |||
| Fricative | β | s | ||||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
| Approximant | w | l | j | |||
Vaa (2013) consistently uses / s/ and [ s], which he describes as "lamino-palatoalveolar." [6]
Vowels
Nanggu has ten phonemic vowels. [5]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ʉ | u |
| Close-mid | e | ɵ | |
| Open-Mid | ɛ | ɞ | ɔ |
| Open | a | ɒ |
Notes
References
- Boerger, Brenda H.; Næss, Åshild; Vaa, Anders; Emerine, Rachel; et al. (2012). "Sociological factors in Reefs-Santa Cruz language vitality: a 40 year retrospective" (PDF). International Journal of the Sociology of Language. 2012 (214): 111–152. doi: 10.1515/ijsl-2012-0023. S2CID 147510619.
- Vaa, Anders (2013). A Grammar of Engdewu. An Oceanic Language of the Solomon Islands (PhD thesis). University of Oslo.
External links
- Materials on Nanggu are included in the open access Arthur Capell ( AC2) and Stephen Wurm ( SAW2) collections held by Paradisec