Northeast Malakula, or Uripiv-Wala-Rano-Atchin, is a dialect chain spoken on the islands of Uripiv, Wala, Rano, and Atchin and on the mainland opposite to these islands. Uripiv-Wala-Rano-Atchin is spoken today by about 9,000 people. Literacy rate of its speakers in their own language is 10–30%.
Uripiv-Wala-Rano-Atchin forms a dialect chain. The Uripiv dialect is the most southerly of these and has 85% of its words in common with Atchin, the most northerly dialect. Uripiv is spoken on the north-east coast of Malakula.
The Uripiv dialect is one of the few documented languages that use the rare bilabial trill, a feature that is not found in the Atchin dialect.
Phonology
Consonants
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+Uripiv consonants
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" |Labial
! rowspan="2" |Alveolar
! rowspan="2" |Palatal
! rowspan="2" |Velar
|-
!<small>plain</small>
!<small>lab.</small>
|-
! rowspan="2" |Plosive/<br/>Affricate
!<small>voiceless</small>
|
|
|
|
|
|-
!<small>prenasal</small>
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |Fricative
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |Nasal
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |Tap
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |Trill
!<small>voiced</small>
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|
|-
!<small>prenasal</small>
| colspan="2" |
|()
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |Lateral
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |Approximant
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|
|}
- The sound is considered rare, and its phonemic status is unclear.
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" |Labial
! rowspan="2" |Alveolar
! rowspan="2" |Velar
|-
!<small>plain</small>
!<small>lab.</small>
|-
! rowspan="2" |Plosive
!<small>voiceless</small>
|
|
|
|
|-
!<small>prenasal</small>
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |Affricate
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |Fricative
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |Nasal
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |Trill
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |Lateral
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |Approximant
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|}
- Some speakers may pronounce sounds /s, ts/ as [ʃ, tʃ] in free variation.