Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 20, 2026

Southwest Tanna language

Southwest Tanna is a dialect chain spoken on the southwestern coast of Tanna Island in Vanuatu. Lynch (1982) names three major dialects: Nivhaal in the north-west of the language area, Nivai in the south-west, and Nelpwaai in the north-east.

Last revised
Jul 20, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
151 w
Citations
2
Source
Southwest Tanna
Nawal
Native toVanuatu
RegionTanna Island
Native speakers
4,500 (2011)1
Language codes
ISO 639-3nwi
Glottologsout2869
Southwest Tanna is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Southwest Tanna is a dialect chain spoken on the southwestern coast of Tanna Island in Vanuatu. Lynch (1982) names three major dialects: Nivhaal in the north-west of the language area (spelt "Nauvhal" in publicity for the 2015 film Tanna), Nivai in the south-west, and Nelpwaai in the north-east.2

References

References

  1. Southwest Tanna at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. John Lynch (1982). "South-West Tanna Grammar Outline and Vocabulary". Papers in Linguistics of Melanesia. 4.
External links