Last Updated: 2020-06-23
Background
Language family: Creole / English-based / Pacific
- Bislama is a relatively new language (from the mid 19th century) that is the national language of Vanuatu, a Pacific island country. Bislama is a creole language that has some basis in English (Crowley 2004, 1–2).
Phonology
Consonants
- Not all speakers make a contrast between voiced and voiceless stops and between /v/ and /f/ (Crowley 2004, 14).
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Place of Articulation
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Manner of Articulation
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Labial
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Alveolar
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Postalveolar
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Palatal
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Velar
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Glottal
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Stops
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p b
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t d
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k ɡ
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Affricates
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tʃ
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Fricatives
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f v
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s
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h
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Nasals
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m
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n
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ŋ
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Flaps
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ɾ
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Approximants
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w
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l
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j
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Note: For phonemes that share a cell, those on the left are voiceless and those on the right are voiced.
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Vowels
- Although consecutive vowels are apparent in Bislama, there is much controversy around their interpretation as complex phonemes or vowel sequences. I have chosen not to include them in the inventory based on the argument that they are representative of vowel sequences (Lynch 1975, 195).
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Front
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Central
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Back
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High
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i
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u
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Mid
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e
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o
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Low
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a
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Alphabet
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Grapheme
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Phoneme
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a
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/a/
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b
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/b/
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d
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/d/
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e
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/e/
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f
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/f/
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g
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/ɡ/
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h
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/h/
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i
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/i/
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j
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/tʃ/
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k
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/k/
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l
|
/l/
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m
|
/m/
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n
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/n/
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o
|
/o/
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p
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/p/
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r
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/ɾ/
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s
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/s/
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t
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/t/
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u
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/u/
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v
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/v/
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w
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/w/
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y
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/j/
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Digraph
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|
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ng
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/ŋ/
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Lenition Rules
- /h/ is frequently deleted intervocalically (Crowley 2004, 14).
Misc. Rules
- /h/ may often be epenthesized preceding vowels in word-initial positions (Crowley 2004, 14).
References
Crowley, Terry. 2004. “Bislama Reference Grammar.” Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications 31.
Lynch, John. 1975. “Bislama Phonology and Grammar: A Review Article.” Kivung 8 (2): 186–204.