Uripiv language
From Free net encyclopedia
{{language |name=Uripiv |states=Vanuatu |region=Malakula |speakers=6,000 for dialect continuum |familycolor=Austronesian |fam2=Malayo-Polynesian |fam3=Central Eastern |fam4=Eastern |fam5=Oceanic |fam6=Central-Eastern |fam7=Remote |fam8=North and Central |fam9=Northeast |fam10=Malekula Coastal |iso2=map|iso3=upv}}
Uripiv is a language spoken on Vanuatu. Uripiv is spoken today by about 6,000 people. Literacy rate of Uripiv speakers in their own language is about 10-30%.
The language forms a dialect chain with other nearby languages, namely Wala-Rano and Atchin. Uripiv is the most northerly of these languages. Despite the dialect chain, Uripiv still has 85% of its words in common with Atchin, at the opposite (southern) end.
Uripiv is classified as an Austronesian language, part of the Malayo-Polynesian bulk of this language group. It falls into the Central Eastern branch of the Malayo-Polynesian languages and the Eastern Malayo-Polynesian subbranch of Central Eastern, which includes Uripiv and other Oceanic languages.
It is one of the few well-documented languages that uses the rare bilabial trill.