Lenakel is the largest town on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu. It is located on the west coast of the island near the administrative capital of Isangel and serves as a major port of entry. As of the most recent data, it has a population of 1,473. It lies within Tafea Province and operates on UTC+11 (VUT).
The name Lenakel also refers to the Lenakel language (also known as West Tanna, or natively as Netvaar), a dialect chain spoken on the western coast of Tanna Island. Lenakel is one of five languages spoken on Tanna and belongs to the Austronesian language family, specifically the Southern Oceanic branch of Malayo-Polynesian. It is spoken by approximately 12,000 people (as of 2001). The native name for the language is Netvaar, and speakers refer to it as Nakaraan taha Lenakel ("the language of Lenakel").
Linguistically, Lenakel is classified under the Tanna subgroup of the South Vanuatu languages. Its closest relatives are Whitesands and North Tanna, with which it shares a high degree of lexical overlap (73–81% lexical similarity) and nearly identical grammatical structures. The dialect situation is complex, with up to ten recognized dialects including Loanatit, Nerauya, Itonga, and Ikyoo. Lenakel is considered the most prestigious language on Tanna, partly due to its use as a church language for over a century.
The language has been extensively researched and documented by linguist John Lynch, who published both a dictionary (Lenakel Dictionary, 1977) and a detailed grammatical description (A Grammar of Lenakel, 1978). Its ISO 639-3 code is tnl, and its Glottolog code is lena1238. According to UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, Lenakel is not considered endangered.
Lenakel is spoken primarily in the central west part of Tanna, including the town of Lenakel and the administrative capital Isangel. Significant Lenakel-speaking communities also exist in Port Vila on Efate Island and in New Caledonia.
