Lemerig is an Oceanic language spoken on Vanua Lava, in Vanuatu.
The language is no longer actively spoken, having receded in favour of its neighbors, including Vera'a and possibly also Mwotlap or Vurës. The two remaining speakers live on the northern coast of the island.
The name Lemerig refers to a now abandoned village in northern Vanua Lava; it is spelled in the language of the same name. It reflects an earlier Proto-Torres-Banks form *lemeriãi, where the *riãi component likely means "small".
Lemerig has sometimes been referred to using the names of its local varieties: Päk, Sasar, and Alo-Teqel.
Judging from wordlists published by missionary and linguist Robert Codrington, these three varieties were very close to each other. The little differences there were went extinct during the 20th century.
Lemerig has 11 phonemic vowels. These are all short monophthongs .
The system of personal pronouns in Lemerig contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes four numbers (singular, dual, trial, and plural).
Most negative morphemes are discontinuous, wrapped around the predicate phrase: e.g. (Negative realis âÂÂdid~does notâÂÂ), (Nondumitive âÂÂnot yetâÂÂ), (Negative potential âÂÂcannotâÂÂ). Historically, this pattern reflects an instance of Jespersen's cycle.
Spatial reference in Lemerig is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals, which is in part typical of Oceanic languages, in part innovative.