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Ethnologue > Web version > Country index > Pacific > Vanuatu > Tanna, North

Tanna, North

A language of Vanuatu

ISO 639-3: tnn

Population  5,000 (Lynch and Crowley 2001).
Region  North Tanna.
Language map  Vanuatu
Dialects  East Tanna, West Tanna, Imafin. 2 major dialects. There is a dialect chain. Similar to Whitesands [tnp].
Classification  Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Central-Eastern, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, Central-Eastern Oceanic, South Vanuatu, Tanna
Language use  Also use Bislama [bis], but many women and some men do not understand it.
Language development  Literacy rate in L1: Below 1%. Literacy rate in L2: 5%–15%. Bible portions: 1990–2006.
Comments  SVO. Agriculturalists: coconut; copra production.

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

BLAYMIRES, Joan, author. 1995. "North Tanna."

NEHRBASS, Kenneth, author. 2012. A Comprehensive Comparison of Lexemes in the Major Languages of Tanna, Vanuatu.  Available online