Amba language (Solomon Islands)

Amba (also known as Aba, Nembao or Nebao) is the main language spoken on the island of Utupua, in the easternmost province of the Solomon Islands.[2]

Amba
Aba
Native toSolomon Islands
RegionUtupua
Native speakers
(590 cited 1999)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3utp
Glottologamba1266
Amba is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Name

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The speaker population calls their own language [aᵐba] (with prenasalised [ᵐb]). This name may be rendered Amba or Aba depending on spelling conventions, which have not been fixed yet for these languages.

Speakers of neighbouring Asumboa designate the Amba language as [neᵐbao]. This form, which may be spelled Nembao or Nebao, has sometimes been used by foreigners as another name for the Amba language.

References

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  1. ^ Amba at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Tryon (1994).

Bibliography

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  • Tryon, Darrell (1994). "Language contact and contact-induced language change in the Eastern Outer Islands, Solomon Islands". In Tom Dutton; Darrell Tryon (eds.). Language Contact and Change in the Austronesian World. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 611–648. ISBN 978-3-11-088309-1..