Northeast Malakula, or Uripiv-Wala-Rano-Atchin, is a dialect chain spoken on the islands of Uripiv, Wala, Rano, and Atchin and on the mainland opposite to these islands. Uripiv-Wala-Rano-Atchin is spoken today by about 9,000 people. Literacy rate of its speakers in their own language is 10–30%.

Uripiv-Wala-Rano-Atchin forms a dialect chain. The Uripiv dialect is the most southerly of these and has 85% of its words in common with Atchin, the most northerly dialect. Uripiv is spoken on the north-east coast of Malakula.

The Uripiv dialect is one of the few documented languages that use the rare bilabial trill, a feature that is not found in the Atchin dialect.

Phonology

Consonants

Uripiv consonants
LabialAlveolarPalatalVelar
plainlab.
Plosive/ Affricatevoicelessppʷttʃk
prenasalᵐbᵐbʷⁿdᵑɡ
Fricativeβs
Nasalmmʷnŋ
Tapɾ
Trillvoicedr
prenasalᵐʙ(ⁿᵈr)
Laterall
Approximantwj
  • The sound /ⁿᵈr/ is considered rare, and its phonemic status is unclear.
Atchin consonants
LabialAlveolarVelar
plainlab.
Plosivevoicelessppʷtk
prenasalᵐbᵐbʷ
Affricatets
Fricativeβs
Nasalmmʷnŋ
Trillr
Laterall
Approximantw
  • Some speakers may pronounce sounds /s, ts/ as [ʃ, tʃ] in free variation.

Vowels

Uripiv vowels Front Central Back Close i u Mid e ø o Open a

Atchin vowels Front Central Back Close i ʉ u Close-mid e o Open-mid œ Open a

Sounds /e, o, œ/ are heard as [ɛ, ɔ, ə] in unstressed closed-syllable position.

Further reading

  • Duhamel, Marie (2015) Ethnolinguistic vitality of the language of Atchin, central Vanuatu: A survey of the language's status, institutional support and demography. Fourth International Workshop on the Sociolinguistics of Language Endangerment. Payap University.