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Ethnologue > Web version > Country index > Pacific > Papua New Guinea > Mussau-Emira

Mussau-Emira

A language of Papua New Guinea

ISO 639-3: emi

Population	5,000 (2003 SIL), increasing. Ethnic population: 5,000, including 3,500 in the traditional area (2000 J. Brownie SIL).
Region	New Ireland Province, St. Matthias Islands (Mussau and Emira), northwest of Kavieng; Port Moresby, Lae, Goroka, Madang.
Language map	Papua New Guinea, Map 2, reference number 30
Alternate names	Emira-Mussau, Musao, Musau-Emira, Mussau
Dialects	Emira, Western Mussau, Southern Mussau, Eastern Mussau.
Classification	Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Central-Eastern, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, St. Matthias
Language use	Vigorous. Spoken by nearly all. Passed on to children in the traditional area, and some elsewhere, except in mixed marriages. Tenis ethnic group also uses Emira. Most domains, local administration, commerce, education in early grades, oral and some written use in church, personal letters. All ages. Positive attitude. Also use Tok Pisin [tpi] or English.
Language development	Literacy rate in L1: 80%–95%. Literacy rate in L2: 80%–95% Tok Pisin and English. Vernacular prep schools since 1994. Dictionary. Grammar. Bible portions: 2006.
Writing system	Latin script.
Comments	SVO. Swidden agriculturalists; fishermen. Christian.

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

BROWNIE, John, author. 2012. "Multilingualism and identity on Mussau."  

BROWNIE, John; BROWNIE, Marjo, authors. 2002. Orthography and phonology description Mussau-Emira language: St. Matthias Islands—New Ireland province.

BROWNIE, John; BROWNIE, Marjo, authors. 2007. Mussau grammar essentials.  

BROWNIE, John; BROWNIE, Marjo, authors. 2009. Organised phonology data: Mussau-Emira; New Ireland province.  

PALMER, Bill, author. 2008. "Passive possession in Oceanic."

Vernacular Publications

Namuu me ghauna (Big book). 2012.