Ske language
| Ske | |
|---|---|
| Seke | |
| Native to | Vanuatu |
| Region | Pentecost Island |
|
Native speakers
|
300 (2011) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | seke1241 |
Ske (or Seke) is an endangered language of south-western Pentecost island in Vanuatu. Ske belongs to the East Vanuatu languages, a branch of the Austronesian languages family.
The Ske area comprises fourteen small villages centred on Bwaravet in south-western Pentecost, from Levizendam in the north to Hotwata in the south and extending inland to Vanliamit. Historically the language's area extended to parallel areas of the east coast, but this part of the island is now depopulated.
Due to intermarriage between language areas, an increasing number of people in Ske-speaking villages now speak Apma, Sa or Bislama as a first language, and local chiefs fear for the future of Ske. A closely related neighbouring language, Sowa, has already been totally displaced by Apma.
The number of Ske speakers is estimated at 300. The widely reported figure of 600 is probably an overestimate, since not everybody in the Ske area is fluent in the language.
There is no significant dialectal variation within modern Ske, although there are noticeable differences between the Ske of older and younger speakers. Doltes, the extinct dialect of Hotwata village, is sometimes regarded as a Ske dialect, but appears to have been closer to Sa.
There is no local tradition of writing in Ske, and until recently the language was virtually undocumented. However, linguist Kay Johnson has written a sketch grammar and is now working with the community to produce literacy materials. Prior to her arrival, the only records of Ske were short vocabulary lists collected by David Walsh in the 1960s, Catriona Hyslop in 2001 and Andrew Gray in 2007.
Following the orthography developed by linguist Kay Johnson in consultation with the Ske community, the consonants of Ske are b, d, g, h, k, l, m, n, ng (as in English "singer"), p, q (prenasalized g, written ngg or g-macron in some sources), r, s, t, bilabial v, w, z, and labiovelar bw, mw, pw and vw.
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