Apma Resources

Abstract

Schneider has created three resources for elementary school children to facilitate their acquisition of literacy in the Apma language: an alphabet book, an alphabet poster, and a poster about Apma's vowel and consonant combinations. Both book and poster present each letter of the Apma alphabet one by one, with an accompanying photograph or drawing, and a word beginning with the sound represented by each letter. The book also includes translations into Bislama (Vanuatu's lingua franca). The vowel and consonant poster presents the possible combinations of these sounds. These resources are based on Schneider's ongoing work on the Apma language. To produce them, research into Apma's phonology (sound system) and phonotactic structure (possible combinations of sounds) was particularly necessary.