Nalik

A language of Papua New Guinea

ISO 639: nal
Alternate Names: Fesoa, Fessoa, Lugagon
Population: 6,500 (2020 C. Volker). Ethnic population: 8,780 (2014 census).
Location:: New Ireland province: north central, Kavieng, on the east coast, 14 villages; west coast, 3 villages. Some in urban areas.
Language Status: 6b (Threatened).
Classification: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, Western Oceanic, Meso Melanesian, New Ireland, Lavongai-Nalik
Dialects: Southern East Coast, Northern East Coast, West Coast, Laefu. The Laefu dialect has almost died out, with Bulifa and Laefu villages mostly using the West Coast dialect and Panamana village mostly using the Northern East Coast dialect (Volker 1998).
Typology: SVO.
Language Use: Tok Pisin [tpi] is the primary language of young people, though young people still speak the vernacular (Jenkins 2005). On the east coast, all children learn Tok Pisin [tpi] as an L1, with only some learning Nalik as an additional L1 (2020 C. Volker). Mixed use with Tok Pisin [tpi] in all domains among young people. Some young people, all adults. Positive attitudes. All also use Tok Pisin [tpi] (Jenkins 2005). Most also use English [eng] (Jenkins 2005).
Language Development: Grammar.
Language Resources: OLAC resources in and about Nalik
Writing: Latin script [Latn].

Location: New Ireland province: north central, Kavieng, on the east coast, 14 villages; west coast, 3 villages. Some in urban areas.