Motlav love poem

A big thank you to Alexandre François (CNRS linguist), for this translation of my poem in Mwotlap (Motlav, Motalava, Mwotlav, autonym: M̄otlap).

Mwotlap, which is the language of more than 2,000 people, is one of the 500 Oceanic languages, and more precisely, a Melanesian language which is part of the northern and central Vanuatu languages group.

Even if its number of speakers is not very high, it is a vigorous language, and Alexandre François was the first to describe it in detail. We owe him a dictionary and numerous descriptions.

The Motlav, spoken in the Banks Islands (Torba province) in the north of Vanuatu, in the small island of Mota Lava (Mwotlap, Motalava, Motlav, autonym: M̄otlap), also has expatriate speakers in the major cities of Vanuatu.

It should be noted that while Torba is the poorest and least inhabited province of Vanuatu, it is Mota Lava, the most dynamic place in the entire province, from every point of view.

The inhabitants of Mota Lava, who are rural people, are all bilingual with Bislama. Very very few speak French or English, two languages which are more the prerogative of the "elite".

In 1860, Anglican pastors chose the language of Mota to evangelize the surrounding islands, including Mwotlap. They then studied Mota, put together a dictionary, and it became an important language in the region.

However, after the Second World War, Bislama returned Mota to its island, and little by little it was the language of Mota Lava, Mwotlap, with Bislama which became the vehicular language in the Banks Islands.

You will find the words volow, valuwa and dagmel linked to the language. These three words refer to Motalava languages, probably dialects of Motlav which have now disappeared.

Vanuatu was formed in the Pacific Ocean with volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

Its settlement took place around 1,500 years ago, that is to say, in the middle of the Austronesian migrations (which began 3,000 years ago), with Asian populations, bringing with them a proto-Oceanian .

With these migrations across the entire Pacific Ocean, Austronesian languages constitute the largest linguistic family in the world.

In Vanuatu, the mountainous terrain and the Ocean have not prevented relations between the different groups, who have always exchanged, through trade and the resulting marriages. And finally, the main distinction between these groups remains their language, and in Vanuatu there are more than a hundred of them.

Mota Lava is a very small volcanic island of barely 25km². Today, its population lives mainly at its western end, in the villages of Lahlap, Toglag and Qêgm̄agde. On the other side, the villages of Vôlôw and Telvêt are less populated.

If the Mwotlavians fish, hunt and gather, they mainly live from agriculture (yam, cassava, taro, coconut (copra), kava, lychee, mango).