Tanema language

{{Short description|Endangered Oceanic language of the Solomon Islands}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Tanema

|nativename = Tetawo

|states=Solomon Islands

|region=Vanikoro

|speakers=1

|date=2012

|ref=

|familycolor=Austronesian

|fam2=Malayo-Polynesian

|fam3=Oceanic

|fam4=Temotu

|fam5=Vanikoro

|iso3=tnx

|glotto=tane1237

|glottorefname=Tanema

|map = Lang Status 20-CR.svg

|mapcaption = {{center|{{small|Tanema is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger}}}}

}}

Tanema (Tetawo, Tetau) is a nearly extinct language of the island of Vanikoro, in the easternmost province of the Solomon Islands.

Vitality

File:AlexFrancois_carte-Vanikoro-ile-821.jpg I., showing the historical territories of the three tribes of Lovono, Tanema and Teanu.Source: [http://alex.francois.online.fr/AF-maps-Vanikoro.htm#a Maps of Vanikoro (languages, place names)].]]

As of 2012, Tanema is only spoken by one speaker, Lainol Nalo.[http://alex.francois.online.fr/AF-field.htm#Solomons Homepage of the linguist A. François] (CNRS).[http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/south-pacific-islands-threatened-by-more-than-just-rising-sea-levels-a-838675-2.html “The Mystery of the Sinking South Pacific Islands” — Part 2: A Language's Lone Survivor] (article in Der Spiegel, 15/06/2012). Like its neighbour Lovono, it has been replaced by Teanu, the main language of Vanikoro.

The late Emele Mamuli was a prolific storyteller who could speak fluently the three languages of Vanikoro: Teanu, Lovono and Tanema.[https://pangloss.cnrs.fr/corpus/Tanema?lang=en&mode=pro&seeMore=true#:~:text=Fran%C3%A7ois%2C%20Alexandre-,%E2%80%A0Emele%20Mamuli,-was%20a%20prolific Photograph of Emele Mamuli] (2005). She was one of the last speakers of Tanema.

The language

Some information on the languages of Vanikoro, including Tanema, can be found in {{Harvcoltxt|François|2009}} for the grammar, and François (2021) for the lexicon.See also François (2022) for a general presentation.

Notes

{{reflist}}

References

  • {{Citation

| last = François

| first = Alexandre

| author-link = Alexandre François (linguist)

| contribution = The languages of Vanikoro: Three lexicons and one grammar

| editor-last = Evans

| editor-first = Bethwyn

| title = Discovering history through language: Papers in honour of Malcolm Ross

| volume =

| pages = 103–126

| publisher = Australian National University

| place = Canberra

| year = 2009

| series = Pacific Linguistics 605

| isbn =

| url=

| contribution-url = http://alex.francois.online.fr/data/AlexFrancois_2009_Vanikoro-languages.pdf

}}

  • —— (2021). [http://alex.francois.free.fr/AF-Vanikoro-notes_e.htm Online Teanu–English dictionary], with lexical data in Lovono and Tanema. Paris, CNRS.
  • {{cite web

|url=https://pangloss.cnrs.fr/corpus/Tanema?lang=en&mode=pro&seeMore=true

|title=Presentation of the Tanema language, and audio archive

|last=François

|first=Alexandre

|author-mask=2

|author-link=

|date=2022

|website=Pangloss Collection

|location=Paris

|publisher=CNRS

|access-date=26 September 2022

|quote=

|ref=pangloss}}