The Efate-Erromango Problem in Vanuatu Subgrouping

While the languages of Erromango clearly belong to the Southern Vanuatu family, and the languages of Efate also clearly belong to the Central Vanuatu subgroup, there are quite a few nonlexical innovations shared by just these languages and none of their close relatives (and, remarkably, apparently very little evidence of lexical sharing). This paper investigates these innovations, and proposes a settlement pattern for central and southern Vanuatu that explains these changes while still recognizing the distinct identity of the two subgroups.