West Uvean language

This article is about "West Uvean" or "Fagauvea", a language of New Caledonia. For "East Uvean" or "Fakauvea", the language of Wallis Island (Uvea), see Wallisian language.

West Uvean
Fagauvea
Native to	New Caledonia
Region	Ouvéa
Native speakers	2,200 (2009 census)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Polynesian Futunic? West Uvean
Language codes
ISO 639-3	uve
Glottolog	west2516
West Uvean is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

West Uvean (also Uvean or Faga Ouvéa; Fagauvea in the vernacular) is a Polynesian outlier language spoken on the island of Ouvéa, in the Loyalty island group of New Caledonia, and in the capital of Nouméa.

West Uvean has been studied by linguists Françoise Ozanne-Rivierre and Claire Moyse-Faurie.

Name

The speakers designate their language by the name Fagauvea, which is also the name used in French. The name West Uvean sometimes used in English is meant to distinguish the language from the related East Uvean or Wallisian, spoken on Wallis Island (ʻUvea).

Phonology

West Uvean has long been in contact with Iaai, the Southern Oceanic language also spoken on the same island. This contact has resulted in four vowels being added to the phonemic system of West Uvean; and to a complexification of the syllable structure, allowing for final consonants.

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	voiceless	m̥		n̥
	voiced	m		n		ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p		t	ʈ	c	k
	voiced	b		d	ɖ	ɟ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	θ	s		ʃ		h
	voiced	v
Rhotic				(ɾ)
Approximant	voiceless	w̥		l̥
	voiced	w		l

/ɾ/ is only heard in intervocalic position.

Vowels

	Front		Central	Back
High	i	y		u
Mid	e	œ	ə	o
Low	æ		a

Grammar

Numeral system

West Uvean is the only Polynesian language to use a quinary numeral system. While Polynesian languages historically have a decimal system, West Uvean evolved to a quinary system, under influence of its Iaai neighbour.

There are two sets of numerals from 11 to 20, the second way was the archaic form. The word tupu means 'sum', teanua in tahi a teanua means 'human body', and nea in tahi enea means 'man'. Nowadays, the West Uvea or Faga Uvea people use French or Iaai numeral systems more frequently.

External links

• Audio recordings and texts in the West Uvean language, in open access (Pangloss Collection), by linguists Françoise Ozanne-Rivierre and Claire Moyse-Faurie.