Northeast Malakula language

Northeast Malakula, or Uripiv-Wala-Rano-Atchin, is a dialect chain spoken on the islands of Uripiv, Wala, Rano, and Atchin and on the mainland opposite to these islands. Uripiv-Wala-Rano-Atchin is spoken today by about 9,000 people. Literacy rate of its speakers in their own language is 10–30%.

Uripiv-Wala-Rano-Atchin forms a dialect chain. The Uripiv dialect is the most southerly of these and has 85% of its words in common with Atchin, the most northerly dialect. Uripiv is spoken on the north-east coast of Malakula.

The Uripiv dialect is one of the few documented languages that use the rare bilabial trill, a feature that is not found in the Atchin dialect.

Consonants

 * The sound is considered rare, and its phonemic status is unclear.


 * Some speakers may pronounce sounds /s, ts/ as [ʃ, tʃ] in free variation.

Vowels

 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! ! colspan="2" | Front !Central ! Back !Close !Mid !Open
 * + Uripiv vowels
 * colspan="2" |
 * colspan="2" |
 * }
 * }
 * }


 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! ! Front !Central ! Back !Close !Close-mid !Open-mid !Open
 * + Atchin vowels
 * }
 * Sounds /e, o, œ/ are heard as [ɛ, ɔ, ə] in unstressed closed-syllable position.
 * }
 * Sounds /e, o, œ/ are heard as [ɛ, ɔ, ə] in unstressed closed-syllable position.
 * Sounds /e, o, œ/ are heard as [ɛ, ɔ, ə] in unstressed closed-syllable position.