Tenis

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A language of Papua New Guinea

ISO 639-3
tns
Alternate Names
Tench
Population

30 (Wurm 2000), decreasing.

Location

New Ireland Province, Tench (Enus) island; also Kavieng.

Language Maps
Language Status

8b (Nearly extinct).

Classification
Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, St. Matthias
Language Use

Seriously endangered (2000 D. Tryon; 2000 S. Wurm). Shifting to Mussau-Emira [emi] and Tok Pisin [tpi]. Very few claim to speak Tenis well. Marriages largely cross-linguistic. Children in Kavieng tend not to learn Tenis. Highly bilingual in Mussau-Emira [emi] (Wurm 2007) and Tok Pisin [tpi].

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Tenis
Other Comments

Christian.