Hiw language

Hiw
Hiw
Native to	Vanuatu
Region	Hiw
Native speakers	280 (2012)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southern Oceanic Vanuatu North Vanuatu Torres–Banks Hiw; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	hiw
Glottolog	hiww1237
ELP	Hiw

Hiw (sometimes spelled Hiu) is an Oceanic language spoken by about 280 people on the island of Hiw, in the Torres Islands of Vanuatu.^[2]

It is distinct from Lo-Toga, the other language of the Torres group.

The language[]

Hiw has 280 speakers, and is considered endangered.^[3]^[4]

Phonology[]

Vowels[]

Hiw has 9 phonemic vowels. These are all short monophthongs /i ɪ e ʉ ɵ ə o ɔ a/:^[5]

Hiw vowels
	Front	Central rounded	Back
Close	i ⟨i⟩	ʉ ⟨u⟩
Near-close	ɪ ⟨ē⟩
Close-mid	e ⟨ë⟩	ɵ ⟨ö⟩	o ⟨ō⟩
Mid		ə ⟨e⟩
Open-mid			ɔ ⟨o⟩
Open	a ⟨a⟩

Consonants[]

Hiw has 14 consonants.^[5]

Hiw consonants
	Bilabial	Alveolar	Dorsal	Labialized velar
Nasal	m ⟨m⟩	n ⟨n⟩	ŋ ⟨n̄⟩	ŋʷ ⟨n̄w⟩
Plosive	p ⟨p⟩	t ⟨t⟩	k ⟨k⟩	kʷ ⟨q⟩
Fricative	β ⟨v⟩	s ⟨s⟩	ɣ ⟨g⟩
Prestopped lateral			ɡ͡ʟ ⟨r̄⟩
Glide			j ⟨y⟩	w ⟨w⟩

All plosives are voiceless. Hiw is the only Austronesian language whose consonant inventory includes a prestopped velar lateral approximant /ɡ͡ʟ/; this complex segment is Hiw's only liquid.^[6] Historically, this complex segment was a voiced alveolar trill /r/ (which is why it is written as r̄). The voiced alveolar trill, spelt as r, appears in recent loanwords.

Grammar[]

In terms of , Hiw has been assessed to be “grammatically flexible”, but “lexically rigid”.^[7] The vast majority of the language's lexemes belongs to just one word class (noun, adjective, verb, adverb…); yet each of those word classes is compatible with a large number of syntactic functions.

The language presents various forms of verb serialization.^[8]

Its system of personal pronouns contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes three numbers (singular, dual, plural).^[9]

Together with its neighbour Lo-Toga, Hiw has developed a rich system of verbal number, whereby certain verbs alternate their root depending on the number of their main participant.^[10] Hiw has 33 such pairs of verbs, which is the highest number recorded so far among the world's languages.^[10]

Spatial reference in Hiw is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals. That space system is largely reminiscent of the one widespread among Oceanic languages, yet also shows some innovations that make it unique.^[11]

References[]

^ François (2012:88).
^ François (2005:444)
^ François (2012:100).
^ UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger: Hiw.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b François (2010a:396)
^ François (2010a)
^ François (2017).
^ François (2017: 311 sqq).
^ François (2016).
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b François (2019).
^ François (2015: 140-141, 176-183).

Bibliography[]

François, Alexandre (2005), "Unraveling the History of the Vowels of Seventeen Northern Vanuatu Languages" (PDF), Oceanic Linguistics, 44 (2): 443–504, doi:10.1353/ol.2005.0034, S2CID 131668754
François, Alexandre (2010a), "Phonotactics and the prestopped velar lateral of Hiw: Resolving the ambiguity of a complex segment" (PDF), Phonology, 27 (3): 393–434, doi:10.1017/s0952675710000205
François, Alexandre (2010b), "Pragmatic demotion and clause dependency: On two atypical subordinating strategies in Lo-Toga and Hiw (Torres, Vanuatu)" (PDF), in Bril, Isabelle (ed.), Clause hierarchy and Clause linking: The Syntax and Pragmatics interface, Studies in Language Companion Series 121, Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 499–548, ISBN 978-90-272-0588-9
François, Alexandre (2012), "The dynamics of linguistic diversity: Egalitarian multilingualism and power imbalance among northern Vanuatu languages" (PDF), International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2012 (214): 85–110, doi:10.1515/ijsl-2012-0022, S2CID 145208588
François, Alexandre (2015). "The ins and outs of up and down: Disentangling the nine geocentric space systems of Torres and Banks languages" (PDF). In Alexandre François; Sébastien Lacrampe; Michael Franjieh; Stefan Schnell (eds.). The languages of Vanuatu: Unity and diversity. Studies in the Languages of Island Melanesia. Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics. pp. 137–195. hdl:1885/14819. ISBN 978-1-922185-23-5.
François, Alexandre (2016), "The historical morphology of personal pronouns in northern Vanuatu" (PDF), in Pozdniakov, Konstantin (ed.), Comparatisme et reconstruction : tendances actuelles, Faits de Langues, 47, Bern: Peter Lang, pp. 25–60
François, Alexandre (2017), "The economy of word classes in Hiw, Vanuatu: Grammatically flexible, lexically rigid" (PDF), in Eva van Lier (ed.), Lexical Flexibility in Oceanic Languages, Studies in Language, 41, pp. 294–357, doi:10.1075/sl.41.2.03fra
François, Alexandre (2019). "Verbal number in Lo–Toga and Hiw: The emergence of a lexical paradigm" (PDF). Transactions of the Philological Society. 117 (3): 338–371. doi:10.1111/1467-968X.12168..

External links[]

Linguistic map of north Vanuatu, showing range of Hiw.
Audio recordings in the Hiw language, in open access, by A. François (Pangloss Collection).

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[1] François (2012:88).

[2] François (2005:444)

[3] François (2012:100).

[4] UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger: Hiw.

[inventory-5] Jump up to: ^a ^b François (2010a:396)

[6] François (2010a)

[7] François (2017).

[8] François (2017: 311 sqq).

[9] François (2016).

[number-10] Jump up to: ^a ^b François (2019).

[11] François (2015: 140-141, 176-183).

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