Page 137 - THE MELANESIA DIASPORA FILE CETAK ISI 10022017

Vanuatu
The official name of Vanuatu is the Republic of Vanuatu. The country has a population of
253,000., The literacy rate is quite high at 81% (Lewis et al., 2015).
The main language spoken by people of Vanuatu is Bislama also known as Bichelama.
Bislama is a language based on Pidgin English. Bichelama is acknowledged as a lingua
franca in the constitution; the National Anthem of Vanuatu is composed in Bislama. In more
formal settings, however, such as in parliament, reports are written in English and French.
The language situation of Vanuatu is heterogeneous, considering its small population
(Gall and Hobby, 2007).

The Language Distribution Map of Vanuatu
Vanuatu has 112 languages. 110 of these languages are living; all of them belong to the
Austronesian language family.
Two subgroups of languages are found in Vanuatu. The languages in the North and
west are from the Remote Oceanic subgroup while the languages used in the South and
east are from the South Vanuatu language subgroup.

Graph 2: Language Transmission Scale in Vanuatu

50 0 International
1 National
40 2 Provincial
3 Widespread Communication
30 4 Education
5 Developing
20 6.a Strong
6.b Threatened
10 7 Shifting
8.a Dying
0 8.b Nearly Extinct
1 2 3 4 5 6a 6b 7 8a 8b 9 10 9 Fading
10 Extinct

Out of 112 languages in Vanuatu, there are 110 active languages. Their status is as
follows. There are five institutionalized languages, 21 developing languages, 29 strong
languages, 44 weak languages, and 11 endangered languages. Among the endangered
languages one is dying language (8a on scale), Tambotalo [tls] and 10 are almost-extinct
languages (8b on scale) as follows: Araki [akr], Lemerig [lra], Litzlitz (lzl), Maragus [mrs],
Nasarian [nvh], Olrat [olr], Port Sandwich [psw], Sowa [sww], Ura [uur], and Vurës [msn].

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