Namakura

Namakura (NMK, 'language of Makura') is spoken by about 4000 speakers on Efate (in Epule village, Siviri and several areas of Port Vila including Sea Side, Pango and Black Sand) as well as in all of the Shepherd Islands, with the exception of the northern half of Tongoa and a few villages in Emae.

The omnipresence of the Namakura language in the Shepherd Islands is the subject of much local and scientific discourse. Some accounts from northern Tongoa tell the story that this language was given to a mute child by a so-called munai sorcerer. The child then went to settle in South Tongoa where she had a long line of descendants who spoke the new language.

Scientists consider that the Namakura language (NMK), as its name indicates, comes from the island of Makura, populated since 600 BC. After the volcanic eruption of 1452 and the destruction of Kuwae Island, the inhabitants of Makura Island would have completely repopulated the new islands that became the Shepherds -Mataso, Emae, Tongariki and Buninga- and the South of Tongoa.

At the same time, the survivors of the eruption who had taken refuge in the north of Efate, and who spoke Nakanamanga, would have come to reclaim their land and would have settled on the north of Tongoa, which can also be seen as the north of the former island of Kuwae. According to Clark, the distribution of the two majority languages of the Shepherd Islands, Namakura (NMK) and Nakanamanga (NKG), is due to the eruption of the volcano that destroyed the island of Kuwae and the reclamation of its remains, the Shepherd Islands.

Resources

DOI	Duration	Title	Researcher(s)
https://doi.org/10.24397/pangloss-0007508	00:36:48	Le récit de Kuwae, version de Makira, 2017	Bessis, Sandrine
https://doi.org/10.24397/pangloss-0007510	00:16:17	Le récit de Kuwae, version de Makira, 2015	Bessis, Sandrine
https://doi.org/10.24397/pangloss-0007512	00:01:42	Le récit de Kuwae, la troisième version de Makira, 2016	Bessis, Sandrine
https://doi.org/10.24397/pangloss-0007514	00:10:01	Toutoune et Marapoune	Bessis, Sandrine
https://doi.org/10.24397/pangloss-0007517	00:11:35	Le récit de Kuwae, version de l'île de Tongariki, 2019	Bessis, Sandrine
https://doi.org/10.24397/pangloss-0007519	00:06:21	Matanaoretog et Tarifaket, version du village de Lewahima, 2019	Bessis, Sandrine
https://doi.org/10.24397/pangloss-0007521	00:06:20	Comment le rat d' Amor obtint sa queue	Bessis, Sandrine
https://doi.org/10.24397/pangloss-0007524	00:05:00	Chauves-souris blanches et noires	Bessis, Sandrine
https://doi.org/10.24397/pangloss-0007527	00:12:03	Fils de Malao	Bessis, Sandrine
https://doi.org/10.24397/pangloss-0007530	00:12:16	Les deux soeurs et le serpent	Bessis, Sandrine
https://doi.org/10.24397/pangloss-0007533	00:04:34	La pirogue de Tariboamat	Bessis, Sandrine
https://doi.org/10.24397/pangloss-0007535	00:10:45	Le chef Marivira et Totorikipan	Bessis, Sandrine
https://doi.org/10.24397/pangloss-0007538	00:08:52	Sokararu	Bessis, Sandrine
https://doi.org/10.24397/pangloss-0007541	00:05:45	Le nakamal de Savalamur	Bessis, Sandrine
https://doi.org/10.24397/pangloss-0007543	00:17:15	Sin	Bessis, Sandrine
https://doi.org/10.24397/pangloss-0007548	00:03:36	Nitu	Bessis, Sandrine
https://doi.org/10.24397/pangloss-0007551	00:05:21	Seina, version de Lewahima	Bessis, Sandrine
https://doi.org/10.24397/pangloss-0007554	00:12:44	La hache de Sanuvenu	Bessis, Sandrine
https://doi.org/10.24397/pangloss-0008241	00:00:41	Modaere Bulaiwa : l’incantation de destruction	Bessis, Sandrine