Fort Towson

A Namakura speaker, recorded in Vanuatu.

The Namakura language, Makura or Namakir, is an Oceanic language of Vanuatu. The language is spoken in Shefa Province, north Efate, Tongoa, and Tongariki. It is the only North-Central Vanuatu language to have preserved the Proto-Oceanic *q, reflected as a glottal stop.

Phonology

		Labial		Coronal	Velar	Glottal
		plain	lab.	Coronal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	mʷ	n	ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p	pʷ	t	k	ʔ
Plosive	prenasal	ᵐb	ᵐbʷ	ⁿd	ᵑɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f		s		h
Fricative	voiced	v
Approximant		w		l
Rhotic				r

/v/ may also range to bilabial as [β], in free variation.
/h/ can also range to uvular as [χ], in free variation.
/ⁿd/ can also range to a retroflex [ᶯɖ] in free variation. When followed by a /r/, it is then realized as a trilled-articulated sound [ⁿdʳ, ᶯɖʳ].
/r/ can be heard as a flap [ɾ] in initial position and as a trill [r] elsewhere.

Ray, Sydney H. (1897). "Vocabulary and Grammatical Notes on the Language of Makura, Central New Hebrides". The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 26. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland: 67–73. doi:10.2307/2842333. JSTOR 2842333.

^ Namakura at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Sperlich, Wolfgang B. (1991). Namakir: a description of a central Vanuatu language. University of Auckland.