Malo

Print

Primary tabs

A language of Vanuatu

ISO 639-3
mla
Autonym
Tamabo
User Population

4,000 (Lynch and Crowley 2001), increasing.

Location

Sanma province: north Malo island; some in Port Vila and Santo.

Language Maps
Language Status

5 (Developing).

Classification
Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, Central-Eastern Oceanic, Remote Oceanic, North and Central Vanuatu, Northeast Vanuatu-Banks Islands, West Santo
Dialects

Avunatari (North Malo), Ataripoe (South Malo), Tamambo, Tamapo. Reportedly similar to Araki [akr], Aore [aor] (extinct), and Tutuba [tmi].

Typology

Nominative-accusative, head-marking; extensive derivational morphology and serial verb constructions; 18 consonants and 5 vowels.

Language Use

Southern dialect used only by a few elderly people. Home, gardens, market. Used by all.

Language Development

Literacy rate in L1: Low. Dictionary. Grammar. Texts. NT: 1954.

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Malo
Writing

Latin script [Latn].