subgroup of Oceanic languages that are derived from PO. Twenty-eight languages belong to the Eastern Admiralty subgroup and the other three languages (Wuvulu-Aua, Seimat and Kaniet) are in the Western Admiralty subgroup. Demographic The ancestors of the Wuvulu people made ponds by digging holes and pouring in fresh water to plant hula and the great taro around the pond. Wuvulu people also planted sweet potato, tapioca, and cabbage in their gardens. Fishing is important to Wuvulu society and they have many different methods. One method is to have a group of women form a large half-circle with a fishing net while walking along the reef. The fish hide behind the rocks due to the movement of the tide and the women can easily catch them by lifting the stone. They mainly depend on bush when they are building houses or constructing a canoe. During the German colonial period, locals faced difficulties as the trees were cut down by Germans. The people of Wuvulu often help each other build houses and gardens. Food is often cooked with coconut milk. It is taboo for the local people to eat coconut crab, shell-fish, and turtles even though some of them cannot refuse the allure of these foods. The population of Wuvulu was dramatically reduced at the end of the last century by malaria and other diseases spread by outsiders. At that time, at least 90% of the population died of foreign diseases. Christianity is very popular on the island; every Sabbath (Saturday), the residents gather to sing songs written in Hawaiian. Sounds and phonology Vowels Wuvulu-Aua has three distinct dialects, two on Wuvulu island, and one on Aua island. The Auna dialect is spoken on Aua Island, while the Onne dialect is spoken on Wuvulu. The Wuvulu-Aua language has a very small phoneme inventory consisting of 20 phonemes. There are ten vowels; five vowels and five of their long counterparts, and 10 consonants. There are two front vowels and , two back vowels and , and is the only central vowel. High, mid and low vowels are all spread fairly even in terms of frequency. High vowels are the most frequent and mid vowels are the least frequent. There are five long vowels within the Wuvulu language. These five long vowel phonemes share the same phonetic quality as their standard vowel counterparts; however, they are longer in duration. In Wuvulu, there are 20