Endangered Languages Project - Motlav

Motlav

^{[aka Motalava, Mwotlap, Mwotlav]}

Classification: Austronesian

·

vulnerable

ALSO KNOWN AS		Motalava, Mwotlap, Mwotlav, Banks-Inseln
CLASSIFICATION		Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, Northern Vanuatu
CODE AUTHORITY		ISO 639-3
LANGUAGE CODE		mlv
VARIANTS & DIALECTS		Volow
DOWNLOAD		As csv
MORE RESOURCES		OLAC search

Compare Sources (7)

Information from: “Social ecology and language history in the northern Vanuatu linkage: A tale of divergence and convergence” (175-246) . Alexandre François (2011)

Vulnerable

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available
2,100
Native speakers worldwide
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
"Mwotlap is currently thriving, with as many as 2,100 speakers of all ages... Volow can now be considered extinct, since its last fluent speaker (Wanhan) died in 1986... it is still remembered today, at least passively, by its 'last hearer' (Evans 2010: 209), Wanhan's son Wolman."

TRANSMISSION

MORE ON VITALITY

"[Mwotlap is] still transmitted to children... safe from immediate endangerment."

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
2,200
Native speakers worldwide
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
Data for the number of native speakers comes from Lynch and Crowley (2001).

PLACES: Vanuatu;

Critically endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
1
Native speakers worldwide

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
1,275
Native speakers worldwide

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
1,300
Native speakers worldwide

PLACES: Motalava: All villages

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
1,801
Native speakers worldwide
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
1 speaker of Volow variety; 1,800 speakers of Mwotlap variety.

DATE OF INFO: 1998-2003

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LOCATION INFORMATION

COORDINATES

-13.5833333333,167.583333333

COORDINATES

-13.6433,167.7159

Compare Sources (2)

Information from: “The World Atlas of Language Structures” . Bernard Comrie and David Gil and Martin Haspelmath and Matthew S. Dryer · Oxford University Press