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39-598: Makura , locally known as Makira , is a small, inhabited island in Shefa Province of Vanuatu in the Pacific Ocean. Makura is a part of the Shepherd Islands archipelago. The estimated terrain elevation above the sea level is some 132 meters. Makura is a peak of a primeval volcano. The other existing ramparts of the ancient volcanic rim are considered to be the neighboring islands of Emae and Mataso . As of 2015,

78-460: A lingua franca for communication between ni-Vanuatu, as well as with and between foreigners. Although it has been primarily a spoken-only language for most of its history, the first dictionary of Bislama was published in 1977. A new dictionary was published in 1995. This, along with its second edition in 2004, has helped to create a standardised and uniform spelling of written Bislama. Besides Bislama, most ni-Vanuatu also know their local language,

117-574: A localised pidgin was formed, combining English vocabulary with grammatical structures typical of languages in the region. This early plantation pidgin is the origin not only of Bislama, but also of Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea , and Pijin of the Solomon Islands ; though not of Torres Strait Creole in the north of Australia. This creole started spreading throughout the Vanuatu archipelago at

156-422: A particle which is placed before the verbal phrase of a sentence – is sometimes merged with the third person pronoun, giving the words hemi and emi , respectively, in singular, and oli in plural. Some of these markers also have lexical meanings. For example, save can mean "be able to" but it is also a verb "know". Dialects exist, based mainly on different pronunciations in different areas which stem from

195-525: A sentence are indicated with markers such as stap , bin and bae that are placed in the sentence. The plural is formed by putting ol before the word. For example, bia 'beer'; ol bia = "beers". Ol comes from the English "all". When used with numbers, the singular form is used. 2 bia, 3 bia, etc. The personal pronouns of Bislama closely resemble those of Tok Pisin . They feature four grammatical numbers (singular, dual, trial and plural) and also encode

234-429: A tilde ( M̃ and P̃ ) or a following W ( MW and PW ), were then spelled with a macron , following the conventions used for some vernacular Vanuatu languages: M̄ was used for /mʷ/ and P̄ for /pʷ/ . On the island of Pentecost , the avoiuli script is sometimes used for Bislama. The shapes of the letters derive from sand-drawing. It has distinct letters for NG and NGG , but otherwise corresponds closely to

273-601: A transitive suffix. The form of that suffix is /-em/, /-im/, or /-um/, depending on vowel harmony . If the last vowel of the verb's stem is either -u- or -i-, then that vowel will normally be copied into the transitive suffix – however, there are rare exceptions. For all other stem vowels, the transitive suffix has its default form /-em/: Exceptions exist, such as luk i m ("look"). Examples of transitive verbs which exceptionally don't take this suffix include: kakae 'eat, bite'; trink 'drink'; save 'know'; se 'say'. Verbs do not conjugate. The tense, aspect and mood of

312-542: Is a popular attraction for tourists. The legend of Roi Mata speaks of a mighty Chief who brought peace to Efate and its surrounding islands after years of clan fighting and warfare. Jealous of his status, the Chief's brother shot him with a poison dart. Chief Roi Mata succumbed to the poison within Fels Cave on Lelepa island. He was then interred on Eretoka. Many still-living men and women were buried alongside him. This oral history

351-706: Is also an attempt to increase tourism . Parks and Sanctuaries include the Efate Land Management Area. the Nikaura Marine Protected Area on Epi, the Nguna-Pele Marine Protected Area Network on Nguna and Pele, and the Hideaway Marine Sanctuary , Hideaway Island. The capital of Vanuatu, Port Vila is home to approximately 44,000 people, mostly the indigenous ni-Vanuatu, and Shefa home to an estimated 79,000 in

390-454: Is an English-based creole language . It is the national language of Vanuatu , and one of the three official languages of the country, the other ones being English and French. Bislama is the first language of many of the "Urban ni-Vanuatu " (citizens who live in Port Vila and Luganville ) and the second language of much of the rest of the country's residents. The lyrics of " Yumi, Yumi, Yumi ",

429-598: Is seldom used by younger speakers of Bislama to refer to sea cucumbers, as a new re-borrowing from pseudo-French bêche de mer , which has taken the form besdemea , has become more popular. The Bislama Latin alphabet uses the letters A, B, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, T, U, V, W, Y and the digraphs AE , AO and NG . An older Latin orthography, used before 1995, had É (now written E ), AI and AU (now AE and AO ). For those vowels in hiatus, AÏ and AÜ were used (now written AI and AU ). Labialized consonants (used in loanwords), now written with

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468-1098: Is the Bauerfield International Airport of Port Vila, serviced by numerous international carriers including Air Vanuatu , Qantas , Virgin Australia , Air New Zealand , and Fiji Airways . On Epi there are two regional airports, Lamen Bay Airport and Valesdir Airport . In the Shepherd Islands there are two more, Tongoa Airport and Siwo Airport on Emae. The regional airports are all serviced by Air Vanuatu. Major wharfs are located in Port Vila, Efate and Lamen Bay , Epi Island , which are serviced by cargo and cruise ships. 17°20′S 168°30′E  /  17.333°S 168.500°E  / -17.333; 168.500 Bislama Bislama ( English: / ˈ b ɪ s l ə m ɑː / BISS -lə-mah ; Bislama: [biˈslama] ; also known by its earlier French name, bichelamar [biʃlamaʁ] )

507-543: Is the Bible completed in 1998. "Tufala i stap yet long Betlehem, nao i kam kasem stret taem blong Meri i bonem pikinini. Nao hem i bonem fasbon pikinini blong hem we hem i boe. Hem i kavremap gud long kaliko, nao i putum hem i slip long wan bokis we oltaim ol man ol i stap putum gras long hem, blong ol anamol ol i kakae. Tufala i mekem olsem, from we long hotel, i no gat ples blong tufala i stap." While they were still in Bethlehem,

546-684: Is very high in the morphosyntax . As such, Bislama can be described simply as a language with an English vocabulary and an Oceanic grammar and phonology. During the period of " blackbirding " in the 1870s and 1880s, hundreds of thousands of Pacific islanders (many of them from the New Hebrides – now the Vanuatu archipelago) were taken as indentured labourers, often kidnapped, and forced to work on plantations, mainly in Queensland, Australia , and Fiji . With several languages being spoken in these plantations

585-420: The clusivity distinction: 1st person non-singular pronouns (equivalent of English we ) are described as inclusive if they include the addressee (i.e. {you + I}, {you + I + others}), but exclusive otherwise (i.e. {I + other people}). Bislama pronouns do not decline . The third person singular hem , also written em lacks gender distinction, so it can mean either he, she or it. The predicate marker i –

624-527: The 2009 census. Both anecdotal and statistical information shows an increase in urbanisation which doubled between 1967 and 1999. Most of Shefa's population resides in coastal areas and Efate's interior is largely unoccupied. The Shefa Provincial Council Headquarters are located in Port Vila; these humble offices house the political and administrative hub of the Shefa government. The representatives for Shefa Province number some 18 and are elected every two years, with

663-487: The English word "belong", blong takes the place of 'of' or the genitive case in other languages. Just like of in English, it is one of the most widely used and versatile words in the language, and can indicate possession, country of origin, defining characteristics, intention, and others. Verbs in Bislama usually consist of a stem word (borrowed from English, French or indigenous languages); most transitive verbs add to this

702-452: The Latin alphabet above, though capitals are seldom used, punctuation differs, there are digits for higher numbers and logograms for commonly traded commodities such as pig tusks. Two frequent words in Bislama are "long" and "blong", which take the place of many prepositions in English or French. Long holds many other related meanings, and is sometimes used in improvisation. Originally from

741-460: The Pacific in 1888 and 1889, "the natives themselves have often scraped up a little English ... or an efficient pidgin, what is called to the westward Beach-la-Mar ." In Jack London 's story "Yah! Yah! Yah!", one of his " South Sea Tales ", there is repeated a reference to "a bastard lingo called bech-de-mer ", and much of the story's dialogue is conducted in it. Today, the word bislama itself

780-488: The Portuguese bicho do mar "sea animal". In the early 1840s, sea cucumbers were also harvested and dried at the same time that sandalwood was gathered. The names biche-la-mar and Sandalwood English came to be associated with the kind of pidgin that came to be used by the local laborers between themselves, as well as their English-speaking overseers. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote in an account of his travels through

819-460: The Province. The accommodation ranges from the flashy and boutique to the quaint and provincial to the rustic and island style and everything in between. The market for Shefa tourism is currently honeymooners, cruise shippers and couples with the main draw cards for tourists being proximity to quality tourism infrastructure in Port Vila, Vanuatu culture, World War II history, and marine activities. With

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858-599: The Shefa islands have no permanent watercourses and water must be collected for drinking and bathing from rain water, which can be a tenacious exercise during drier years. The rivers of Shefa include the Tagabe , the Epule , and the Rentapau River . Marine sanctuaries are becoming an increasingly popular way to attempt to preserve marine life around Shefa, although traditional methods of conservation can be highly effective. This movement

897-410: The country's national anthem, are composed in Bislama. More than 95% of Bislama words are of English origin, whilst the remainder comprises a few dozen words from French as well as some specific vocabulary inherited from various languages of Vanuatu —although these are essentially limited to flora and fauna terminology. While the influence of these vernacular languages is low on the vocabulary side, it

936-443: The different sounds of the native languages. The future tense marker can be heard to be said as: Bambae, Mbae, Nambae, or Bae. There are also preferences for using Bislama or native words that vary from place to place, and most people insert English, French, or local language words to fill out Bislama. So in the capital city it is common to hear 'computer'; in other places one might hear 'ordinateur'. The longest written work in Bislama

975-572: The inward-bound Western influence, people predominantly consume traditional foods, such as coconuts, bananas , and island cabbage , rather than packaged foods. Along with tourism and hospitality, subsistence agriculture and fishing are major economic activities. Hospitality venues include the many and increasing kava bars , or ‘nakamals’, that are dotted around Port Vila and greater Shefa Province. Substantial financial boosts into communities generally come from land sales which in turn insights land disputes and displacement from traditional lands reducing

1014-486: The local language of their father and/or mother, as well as their spouse, oftentimes. The country's official languages of tuition in schools and educational institutions are English and French. The name of Bislama (also referred to, especially in French, as Bichelamar ) comes via the early 19th century word Beach-la-Mar from pseudo-French biche de mer or bêche de mer , sea cucumber , which itself comes from an alteration of

1053-451: The location of the Vanuatu capital, Port Vila. It is at the south end of the province and is surrounded by several smaller islands, including Iririki , Ifira , Eratap , Erakor , Erueti Lep , Ekapum Lep , Eretoka (Hat), Lelepa , Moso , Nguna , Pele , Kakula , and Emao . To the north are the Shepherd Islands, a group that includes Naore , Etarik , Mataso , Makura , Emae , Buninga , Tongariki , Tongoa , Ewose , and Laika . At

1092-601: The main agricultural products today. The French and British continued to have conflicting interests in Vanuatu (then known as New Hebrides) and decided upon a Joint Naval Commission, or Condominium, in 1887, with the Joint Court opened in 1910, it is still used today. Shefa Province was a strategic location during World War II for the mainly American troops. Major instalments were placed on northern Efate along Havanna Harbour including Tanaliou, Siviri and Saama, and some outer Efate Islands including Moso Island. In December 2021,

1131-404: The north end is the other large island in the province, Epi, as well as nearby Tefala , Namuka and Lamen . Some of these islands are uninhabited. There is plenty of reef accessible for snorkellers to the advanced diver including Pango Wall, and Mele Reef. There is even the opportunity to sight endangered species such as turtle and dugongs near Erakor Island and marine sanctuaries. Some of

1170-420: The official local population was 93 people in 19 households. The island's main language is Namakura or Namakir. Shefa Province In the 1860s, Havanna Harbour , north Efate, was the centre of development in Shefa, with cotton plantations the focus. With dwindling prices for cotton, agricultural administrators turned to maize and coffee , before settling mainly with coconuts and cattle which are

1209-527: The other Melanesian languages). French and English are also spoken widely through the province. Shefa Province is home to the Chief Roi Mata Domain located in Northwest Efate covering the area from Mangililui and Mangaas to Lelepa Island to Eretoka (Hat) Island. Chief Roi Mata Domain was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008. It is the first such site to be inscribed in Vanuatu and

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1248-471: The possibility for subsistence agriculture by some of the communities closer to Vila. Shefa Province is the gateway for many tourists into other parts of Vanuatu. Underwater wonderlands, endangered aquatic species, lush bush, active volcanos, living culture make up the diverse landscapes and experiences that await the tourist to Shefa Province. Specific tourist attractions include the Mele-Maat Cascades,

1287-539: The president, vice president, 2nd vice president, 3rd vice president and treasurer being nominated at that time. The current president is John Markal, representing Erakor constituent. There are approximately five languages, apart from the national language of Bislama , spoken over Shefa including the Ifira-Mele , South Efate , Nakanamanga of North Efate and outer Efate islands, Namakir of Tongoa and parts of Emae, and Emae language (a Polynesian outlier , in contrast to

1326-424: The province was first to recognize Benny Wenda as the president of the transitional government of West Papua . The Shefa Islands are volcanic and limestone/raised reef in origin. The one active volcano in the Province, on Epi is only sporadically active, and other underwater and extinct volcanos are scattered throughout Shefa. Shefa is made up of approximately 27 islands, Efate being the most populated and also

1365-870: The time came for Mary to give birth. Then she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger (lit. " a certain kind of box where people used to put hay for animals to eat "). They did so, because there was no room in the inn for them to stay. Bislama words CHORUS: Yumi, Yumi, yumi i glad long talem se Yumi, yumi, yumi ol man blong Vanuatu God i givim ples ya long yumi, Yumi glat tumas long hem, Yumi strong mo yumi fri long hem, Yumi brata evriwan! CHORUS Plante fasin blong bifo i stap, Plante fasin blong tedei, Be yumi i olsem wan nomo, Hemia fasin blong yumi! CHORUS Yumi save plante wok i stap, Long ol aelan blong yumi, God i helpem yumi evriwan, Hem i papa blong yumi. CHORUS English translation CHORUS: We are, we are, we are happy to proclaim We are, we are, we are

1404-415: The turn of the 20th century, as former blackbirds and their descendants began to return to their native islands. Knowledge of this creole would facilitate communication not only with European traders and settlers, but also between native populations, and because Vanuatu is the most language-dense country in the world (one count puts it at 113 languages for a population of 225,000), Bislama usefully serves as

1443-597: The wide and readily available bungalow market opening up there is increasing potential for backpacker tourism within Shefa Province, Vanuatu and the entire South Pacific. The roads are not regularly maintained or graded and the few sealed roads are located close to Port Vila. Funding from the Millennium Challenge Account Vanuatu has been used to seal the entire ring road and satellite roads of Efate. There are 5 airports in Shefa Province. The largest

1482-482: The world's first underwater post office off the shore of Hideaway Island, the Vanuatu Cultural Centre , and tours to Chief Roi Mata's Domain. Port Vila is noted for its many high-quality restaurants and international cuisine. As the main industry of Shefa Province tourism and hospitality is gaining a lot of interest from ni-Vanuatu as a potential business, and there are plenty of bungalows located throughout

1521-413: Was passed down over 400 years until a French archaeologist confirmed the tale by excavating the burial site and found some 40 skeletons adorned with jewellery denoting high rank. There are no kastom villages left in Shefa Province, that is, with people walking around in grass skirts and blowing conch shells on a daily basis; however, many traditional cultural practises are still strong in Shefa. Despite

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