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I
am originally rom Beterliv, North-West Malekula, Vanuatu. My
adopted paternal grandparents migrated to the Island of
Malo. My dad was raised up in Malekula until adolescence and
moved to Port-Vila, the capital city to study at Lycee Louis
Antoine de Bougainville. My dad speaks several native
dialogues, Bislama (Vanuatu Pidgin), and French. My
mother is from Lifou, New Caledonie, a french colony in
the Melanesia region of South Pacific. She was raised in
the village speaking Drehu (native tongue), Tayo Creole,
and French. He
met my mother in the island of banks when both of them were
teachers at Arep Junior Secondary school. I was first
product of their loving relationship. I was raised up
Luganville town, Santo speaking Bislama and I went to an
anglophone elementary school. After the death of my mum, my
family relocated to Malo island where my Father taught at
Nandiutu elementary school, a french school. There is no
english school nearby so I had to live with my dad's aunty,
Betina in the village and go to school. Living with my
grandma Betina I learned to speak Naleh because everyone
only speaks Naleh. I speak Naleh for four years until I left
for college. I went to Matevulu, and Malapoa college where
we are only allowed to speak either English or French. In
2010, I got the United States South Pacific scholarship and
came to Hawaii to study biology at the University of Hawaii.
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Your name (first, last) |
Sandrine Meltewomu |
Contact Email | smeltewo@hawaii.edu or centygal@gmail.com |
Preferred name(s) of your language | Naleh |
Alternative names | Nileh |
Language classification | Austronesian/
Letemboi |
Geographical areas where spoken | Small Nambas, North West Malekula |
Approximate number of monolingual speakers | Naleh (200 speakers)/ Letemboi ( 600
-800 people) |
Other languages spoken in the area/country | Bislama, English, French |
Official language(s) in your country | English, French |
Does your language have a
widely accepted writing system? |
No |
If yes, what materials are
written? |
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