Lehali (previously known as Teqel) is an Oceanic language spoken by about 200 people, on the west coast of Ureparapara Island in Vanuatu.List of Banks islands languages. It is distinct from Löyöp, the language spoken on the east coast of the same island.
Name The language is named after the village where it is spoken, natively referred to as .
Phonology Lehali phonemically contrasts 16 consonants and 10 vowels.François (2021).
Consonants {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |+ Lehali consonants !colspan="2"| ! Bilabial ! Alveolar ! Dorsal ! Labializedvelar ! Glottal |- !colspan="2"| Nasal
!rowspan="2"| Stop ! voiceless
! prenasalized
!colspan="2"| Fricative
!colspan="2"| Approximant
Vowels The 10 vowel phonemes are all short monophthongs :
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |+ Lehali vowels ! | ! |Front ! |Central ! |Back |- ! Close
! Near-close
| rowspan="2" |
! Open-mid
! Near-open
! Open | colspan="3" |
Historical phonology The /j/ phoneme originates in a former trill *r: e.g. /-jɔ/ < POc *rua 'two'. Lehali shares that particular sound change with its neighbors Löyöp, Volow, and Mwotlap.
Grammar The system of personal pronouns in Lehali contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes four numbers (singular, dual, trial, plural).
Most negative morphemes are discontinuous, wrapped around the predicate phrase: e.g. (Negative realis ‘did/does not’), (Nondumitive ‘not yet’), (Negative potential ‘cannot’). Historically, this pattern reflects an instance of Jespersen's cycle.
Spatial reference in Lehali is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals, which is in part typical of Oceanic languages, and yet innovative.
References
Bibliography
External links Audio recordings in the Lehali language, in open access, by A. François (Pangloss Collection).