Kwamera language

Kwamera
Kwamera
South Tanna
Nafe, Nɨfe
Native to	Vanuatu
Region	Tanna Island
Native speakers	(3,500 cited 2001)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southern Oceanic South Vanuatu Tanna Kwamera; ; ; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tnk
Glottolog	kwam1252

Kwamera, or South Tanna [ntk], the endonym being Nafe (Nɨfe), is an Oceanic language, spoken on the southeastern coast of Tanna Island in Vanuatu, by about 3,500 people.

Writing system

Kwamera alphabet
Majuscules	A	E	F	Fw	G	H	I	Ɨ	K	Kw	M	Mw	N	O	P	Pw	R	S	T	U	V
Minuscules	a	e	f	fw	g	h	i	ɨ	k	kw	m	mw	n	o	p	pw	r	s	t	u	v

Resources

The Nafe (Kwamera) Talking Dictionary, hosted at Swarthmore College, includes 3,233 entries, 3,212 audio files, 1,236 images, and video clips.

References

↑ Kwamera at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
↑
- François, Alexandre; Franjieh, Michael; Lacrampe, Sébastien; Schnell, Stefan (2015), "The exceptional linguistic density of Vanuatu" (PDF), in François, Alexandre; Lacrampe, Sébastien; Franjieh, Michael; Schnell, Stefan (eds.), The Languages of Vanuatu: Unity and Diversity, Studies in the Languages of Island Melanesia, Canberra: Asia Pacific Linguistics Open Access, pp. 1–21, ISBN 9781922185235.
↑ Lindstrom 1986, p. vi.
↑ "Nafe (Kwamera) Talking Dictionary". talkingdictionary.swarthmore.edu. Archived from the original on 2025-04-28. Retrieved 2026-01-18.

Bibliography

Balick MJ, Ramík DM, Ramík N, Nemisa Kumas IK, Plunkett GM, Kelso N, Dovo P, Harrison KD. (2024) "The children of the Sun and Moon are the gardens"—How people, plants, and a living Sun shape life on Tanna, Vanuatu. PLoS ONE 19(11): e0313997.
Lindstrom, Lamont (1986). Kwamera Dictionary. Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-85883-340-1.
K. David Harrison & Martial Wahe, 2015–2020. Nafe (Kwamera) Talking Dictionary. Swarthmore College.

This article about Southern Oceanic languages is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information.

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

[2] 
François, Alexandre; Franjieh, Michael; Lacrampe, Sébastien; Schnell, Stefan (2015), "The exceptional linguistic density of Vanuatu" (PDF), in François, Alexandre; Lacrampe, Sébastien; Franjieh, Michael; Schnell, Stefan (eds.), The Languages of Vanuatu: Unity and Diversity, Studies in the Languages of Island Melanesia, Canberra: Asia Pacific Linguistics Open Access, pp. 1–21, ISBN 9781922185235.

[mwcg] François, Alexandre; Franjieh, Michael; Lacrampe, Sébastien; Schnell, Stefan (2015), "The exceptional linguistic density of Vanuatu" (PDF), in François, Alexandre; Lacrampe, Sébastien; Franjieh, Michael; Schnell, Stefan (eds.), The Languages of Vanuatu: Unity and Diversity, Studies in the Languages of Island Melanesia, Canberra: Asia Pacific Linguistics Open Access, pp. 1–21, ISBN 9781922185235.

[FOOTNOTELindstrom1986vi-3] Lindstrom 1986, p. vi.

[4] "Nafe (Kwamera) Talking Dictionary". talkingdictionary.swarthmore.edu. Archived from the original on 2025-04-28. Retrieved 2026-01-18.