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Tape, also known as Maragus, is a Southern Oceanic language which has a classification of 8B meaning the language has become nearly extinct. The population of speakers of the Tape language is reduced to approximately 15 speakers who are among the older generations. The language is part of the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian Language family and is spoken on the islands of Vanuatu.

The Vanuatu Islands are not the original location of where the Tape language was spoken in the past. The original location was located in an area in Malakula, including the coast from Anuatakh to Lowinsinwei, the area between the Lowisinwei River valley, the eastern bank of the Brenwei River, and a mountain in the south known as Pwitarvere. Since part of the Tape territory was close to the ocean, it allowed the people living in the area to harvest salt which was used to trade with the Tirakh people. However, the Tape people mostly lived their lives "towards the bush," meaning their lives were more oriented towards the land even though they had access to the ocean. This is shown in their language because although they lived along the coast, their descendants were not very knowledgable or could not come up with a significant amount of terms related to the sea.

Originally, there was no distinct name for the Tape language. Tape was the name of the area that the speakers lived on while in the past the language was referred to as vengesien Tape, meaning 'the language of Tape'. Over time however, people have come to use and recognize the name of the language to be "Tape". This language also has a few alternative names known as Marakus, Maragus, Maragaus, and Maraakhus, which were used by the speakers of the Naman language who were living in the Litzlitz area. The name has two roots, mar (person of (place)) and aakhus (bush) and when they are put together, the name's literal translation is 'person of the bush'.

Vowels
In the Tape language, there are a total of six vowels /a, e, i, o, u, and ə./ Although schwa (/ə/) is part of the list, there is a lot of debate on the role schwa plays in the language.

Comparing the use of /i/ and /e/


 * /ičičər/ means '(s)he swept'
 * /ičečər/ means '(s)he slipped'
 * /čənin/ means 'his/her intestines
 * /čənen/ means 'because of it'

Comparing the use of /e/ and /a/


 * /niet/ means 'sago'
 * /niar/ means 'casuarina'
 * /ipel/ means '(s)he choked'
 * /ipar/ means '(s)he is blind'

Comparing the use of /a/ and /o/


 * /maren/ means 'tomorrow'
 * /mornen/ means 'his/her left hand'
 * /iɣaɣas/ means it is cold'
 * /iɣos/ means 'too much'

Comparing the use of /o/ and /u/


 * /ilo/ means '(s)he planted'
 * /ilu/ means '(s)he fired shots'
 * /nio/ means 'armband'
 * /niu/ means 'dew'

The Letter /i/
When the the letter /i/ comes before the velar fricative /ɣ/ it becomes a high vowel

Examples


 * /liɣnana/ is pronounced [lɨyanan] meaning 'his/her face'
 * pəliliɣ/ is pronounced [pəlilɨx] meaning 'wild kava'
 * /tiɣ/ is pronounced [tɨx] meaning 'grave'

When the letter /i/ is the first letter and comes before the velar fricative /ɣ/, a palatal glide comes after

Examples


 * /iɣəč/ pronounced [ɨɣəts ~ jɣəts] meaning '(s)he killed it'
 * /iɣan/ pronounced [ɨɣan ~ jɣan] meaning '(s)he ate'

The Letter /u/
When the /u/ is followed by another vowel, an optional rounded glide occurs between the two vowels

Examples


 * /dui/ pronounced [ⁿdui ~ ⁿduwi] meaning 'man'
 * /nuo/ pronounced [nuo ~ nuwo] meaning 'water'
 * /duen/ pronounced [ⁿduen ~ ⁿduwen] meaning 'with'

The Letters /ue/ and /uo/
When using the combination of /ue/ can be substituted for /uo/, but /uo cannot be substituted for /ue/

Examples


 * /duen/ pronounced [ⁿduen ~ ⁿduon] meaning 'with'
 * /na:bues/ pronounced [na: ᵐbues ~ ᵐbuos] meaning 'New Guinea rosewood'
 * /buok/ pronounced [ᵐbuok] meaning /water taro'
 * /nuot/ pronounced [nuot] meaning 'tendon'

Schwa
Comparing the use of /i/ and /ə/


 * /ičile/ meaning '(s)he washed it'
 * /ičəle/ meaning 's(he) combed it'
 * /ilŋiliŋ meaning '(s)he walked'
 * /iləŋləŋ meaning '(s)he left it'

Comparing the use of /e/ and /ə/


 * /ives/ meaning 'four'
 * /ivəs/ meaning 'how many?'
 * /isel/ meaning 'it floated'
 * /isəl/ meaning '(s)he went fishing by torchlight'

Comparing the use of /a/ and /ə/


 * /ilaɣ/ meaning '(s)he is married'
 * /iləɣ/ meaning '(s)he tied it up'
 * /nisaɣ/ meaning 'banana'
 * /nisəɣ/ meaning 'kingfisher'

Comparing the use of /o/ and /ə/


 * /ičpaɣ/ meaning '(s)he squatted'
 * /čəpaɣ/ meaning 'earth oven'
 * /noɣmo/ meaning 'slitgong'
 * /nəɣmo/ meaning 'island teak'

Comparing the use of /u/ and /ə/


 * /nuɣru/ meaning 'Christmas'
 * /nəɣsen/ meaning 'his/her name'
 * /isusur/ meaning '(s)he swore'
 * /səsən/ meaning 'her breast'

Although schwa (/ə/) is a contrastive vowel among some languages, it is not a universal vowel in all the languages in the area. In the Tape language, there are approximately