Port Sandwich language

Port Sandwich
Port Sandwich
Lamap
Native to	Vanuatu
Region	Malakula
Native speakers	(1,200 cited 2001)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southern Oceanic North-Central Vanuatu Central Vanuatu Malakula Malakula Coastal Port Sandwich; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	psw
Glottolog	port1285
ELP	Port Sandwich
	Port Sandwich is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
	Map credit Location of Lamap, the primary village where Port Sandwich is spoken, on Malakula Map credit Port Sandwich language (Oceania)
	Coordinates: 16°25′0″S 167°49′55″E / 16.41667°S 167.83194°E

Port Sandwich, or Lamap, is an Oceanic language spoken in southeast Malekula, Vanuatu, on the eastern tip of the island.^: 37 It was first described in 1979 by French linguist Jean-Michel Charpentier.

Classification

Port Sandwich is part of the North-Central Vanuatu branch of the Oceanic subfamily of the Austronesian languages. It is closely related to two nearby languages: Ahamb and Maskelynes.^: 19, 37

Geographic distribution

Port Sandwich is spoken on both sides of its namesake bay, on the southeastern coast of the island of Malekula. The village of Lamap is the population centre for speakers of the language, and is sometimes given as the name of the language. It is bordered by the Nisvai, Banam Bay, and Maskelynes languages.^: 71, 76

Phonology

Consonants

In addition to the consonants listed below, plain voiced stops ([b], [d], [g]) are attested but appear to be rare and/or allophones of the prenasalized voiced stops.^: 37 Bilabial stop-trill sequences (voiceless /pᴘ/ and prenasalized voiced /ᵐbʙ/) are also attested and likely phonemic.^: 5–6

Port Sandwich consonants^: 37
		Labial		Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
		plain	lab.	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Plosive	voiceless	p	pʷ	t	c	k
Plosive	prenasal	ᵐb	ᵐbʷ	ⁿd		ᵑɡ
Fricative		v	vʷ	s		x
Nasal		m	mʷ	n		ŋ
Trill				r
Lateral				l

Vowels

Port Sandwich vowels^: 37
	Front		Central	Back
	unround	round	unround	round
Close	i	y		u
Mid	e	ø		o
Open			a

Writing system

Like many other languages on Malakula, there is not a codified writing system for Port Sandwich.^: 38^: 89

References

↑ Port Sandwich at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
1 2 3 4 5 6 Clark, Ross (2009). Leo Tuai: A comparative lexical study of North and Central Vanuatu languages. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. doi:10.15144/PL-603. ISSN 1448-8310. Retrieved 12 November 2026.
↑ Charpentier, Jean-Michel (1979). La langue de Port-Sandwich (Nouvelles-Hébrides): introduction phonologique et grammaire. SELAF (in French). Paris: LACITO. p. 208. ISBN 9782852970564. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
1 2 Lynch, John; Crowley, Terry (2001). Languages of Vanuatu: a new survey and bibliography. Pacific Linguistics. Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. doi:10.15144/PL-517. hdl:1885/146135. ISBN 978-0-85883-469-9. Retrieved 5 November 2026.
↑ Olson, Kenneth S. (5 May 2022). "The nonexistence of the plain bilabial trill phoneme". Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America. 7 (1): 5239. doi:10.3765/plsa.v7i1.5239. Retrieved 12 November 2026.

External links

Materials on Lamap are included in the open access Arthur Capell collection (AC2) held by PARADISEC
Aviva MPI Shimelman collection of Lamap materials available on PARADISEC

[e18-1] Port Sandwich at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[Clark2009-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 Clark, Ross (2009). Leo Tuai: A comparative lexical study of North and Central Vanuatu languages. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. doi:10.15144/PL-603. ISSN 1448-8310. Retrieved 12 November 2026.

[JMC-3] Charpentier, Jean-Michel (1979). La langue de Port-Sandwich (Nouvelles-Hébrides): introduction phonologique et grammaire. SELAF (in French). Paris: LACITO. p. 208. ISBN 9782852970564. Retrieved 28 November 2014.

[LC2001-4] 1 2 Lynch, John; Crowley, Terry (2001). Languages of Vanuatu: a new survey and bibliography. Pacific Linguistics. Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. doi:10.15144/PL-517. hdl:1885/146135. ISBN 978-0-85883-469-9. Retrieved 5 November 2026.

[Olson2022-5] Olson, Kenneth S. (5 May 2022). "The nonexistence of the plain bilabial trill phoneme". Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America. 7 (1): 5239. doi:10.3765/plsa.v7i1.5239. Retrieved 12 November 2026.