The Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project  The Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project

Documentation of N'kep (north Vanuatu): Structure and variation

Miriam Meyerhoff, University of Auckland

Project Details:

Major Documentation Project. Duration: 2010-2013. £55,651

Project Summary:

This project documents the use and structure of N'kep, a variety of Sakao (ISO 639-3 sku), spoken by c.800 people at Hog Harbour, Vanuatu (15ş 8' 0" South, 167ş 6' 0" East). N'kep is typologically unusual and under increasing pressure from the national creole. The project includes a variationist sociolinguistics perspective, and explores the potential for these methods to complement endangered language documentation. A range of text types (from very rehearsed to very spontaneous), and samples from speakers of 3+ age groups will be recorded by the researcher and trained local language assistants.