Dorig language

Dorig (formerly called Wetamut) is a threatened Oceanic language spoken on Gaua island in Vanuatu.

The language's 300 speakers live mostly in the village of Dorig , on the south coast of Gaua. Smaller speaker communities can be found in the villages of Qteon (east coast) and Qtevut (west coast).

Dorig's immediate neighbours are Koro and Mwerlap.

Name

The name Dorig is derived from the name of the village where it is spoken.

Phonology

Dorig has eight phonemic vowels. These include seven short monophthongs and one long vowel .

Dorig has 15 consonant phonemes.

The phonotactic template for a syllable in Dorig is: — e.g. ‘woman’ (< *rVᵐbʷai); ‘poor’ (< *mʷasara); ‘octopus’ (< *ɣurita). Remarkably, the consonant clusters of these /CCVC/ syllables are not constrained by the Sonority Sequencing Principle. Historically, these /CCVC/ syllables reflect former trisyllabic, paroxytone words */CVˈCVCV/, after deletion of the two unstressed vowels: e.g. POc. *kuRíta ‘octopus’ > *wərítə > .

Grammar

The system of personal pronouns in Dorig contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes four numbers (singular, dual, trial, plural).

Spatial reference is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals, which is typical of Oceanic languages.

References

Bibliography

• .

External links

• Linguistic map of north Vanuatu, showing range of Dorig on Gaua.
• Audio recordings in Dorig language, in open access, by A. François <small>(source: Pangloss Collection)</small>.
• Stories in Dorig, with audio recording and translation:
• "The mysterious Pixies", by John Star.
• "The woman who became volcano", by John Collection Wemaras.
• "The barracuda boy", by Selwyn Wesur.
• "Wrisris, the Guardian of the Underworld" by Charles Maklen.