Regianna speaking West Ambae

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CC BY-SA 4.0

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This video was recorded in Vanuatu, where Regianna lives and works. West Ambae, also known as Duidui and Opa, is spoken by as many as 8,700 people, primarily on Ambae Island in the Penama Province of Vanuatu, a Pacific island nation. An Oceanic language of the Austronesian linguistic family, West Ambae shares genealogy with more than a thousand languages across the Pacific and Indian Oceans, from Malagasy, the national language of Madagascar, to Polynesian languages like Hawaiian. Though it is primarily a non-written language, some West Ambae-language media has emerged in recent decades, including translations of religious literature, such as the New Testament and Anglican prayer books.

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