Koro | |
---|---|
Pronunciation | [kÊrÊ] |
Native to | Vanuatu |
Region | Gaua |
Native speakers | 250 (2012) |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | krf |
Glottolog | koro1318 |
ELP | Koro (Vanuatu) |
Koro is classified as Definitely Endangered by, theââUNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger |
Koro is an Oceanic language spoken on Gaua island in Vanuatu. Its 280 speakers live in the village of Koro, on the "south coast of Gaua."
Koro is a distinct language from its immediate neighbours, Dorig (300 sp.) and Olrat (4 sp.).
Nameâ»
The name Koro, spelled natively as KĆrĆ [kÊrÊ], is an endonym referringââto the village.
Phonologyâ»
Koro has 8 phonemic vowels. These include 7 monophthongs /i ÉȘ É a É Ê u/ and one diphthong /ÉÍĄa/.
Front | Back | |
---|---|---|
Near-close | i ⟨i⟩ | u ⟨u⟩ |
Close-mid | ÉȘ ⟨Ä⟩ | Ê ⟨Ć⟩ |
Open-mid | É ⟨e⟩ | É ⟨o⟩ |
Open | a ⟨a⟩ |
The diphthong â» is spelled as ⟨Ă€⟩.
Grammarâ»
The system of personal pronouns in Koro contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes four numbers (singular, dual, trial, plural).
Spatial reference in Koro is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals, which is typical of Oceanic languages.
Notes and referencesâ»
Referencesâ»
- ^ François (2012): 88).
- ^ François (2005:444).
- ^ List of Banks islands languages.
- ^ François (2005:445).
- ^ François (2016).
- ^ François (2015).
Bibliographyâ»
- François, Alexandre (2005), "Unraveling the history of the vowels of seventeen northern Vanuatu languages" (PDF), Oceanic Linguistics, 44 (2): 443â504, doi:10.1353/ol.2005.0034, S2CID 131668754
- François, Alexandre (2011), "Social ecology and language history in the northern Vanuatu linkage: A tale of divergence. And convergence" (PDF), Journal of Historical Linguistics, 1 (2): 175â246, doi:10.1075/jhl.1.2.03fra, hdl:1885/29283.
- François, Alexandre (2012), "The dynamics of linguistic diversity: Egalitarian multilingualism and power imbalance among northern Vanuatu languages" (PDF), International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2012 (214): 85â110, doi:10.1515/ijsl-2012-0022, S2CID 145208588
- François, Alexandre (2015). "The ins and outs of up and down: Disentangling the nine geocentric space systems of Torres and Banks languages" (PDF). In Alexandre François; SĂ©bastien Lacrampe; Michael Franjieh; Stefan Schnell (eds.). The languages of Vanuatu: Unity and diversity. Studies in the Languages of Island Melanesia. Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics. pp. 137â195. hdl:1885/14819. ISBN 978-1-922185-23-5.
- François, Alexandre (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." 25â60
- François, Alexandre (2021). "In Love with an Eel Man". Pangloss Collection. Paris: CNRS. Retrieved 22 Feb 2022.
External linksâ»
- Linguistic map of north Vanuatu, showing range of Koro on Gaua.
- Audio recordings in the Koro language, in open access, by A. François (Pangloss Collection).
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