North Efate language
North Efate | |
---|---|
Nakanamanga | |
Nguna | |
Region | Efate, Vanuatu |
Native speakers | 9,500 (2001)[1] |
Language family | Austronesian
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | llp |
Glottolog | nort2836 |
North Efate, also known as Nakanamanga or Nguna, is an Oceanic language spoken on the northern area of Efate in Vanuatu, as well as on a number of islands off the northern coast – including Nguna, and parts of Tongoa, Emae and Epi.
The population of speakers is recorded to be 9,500.[2] This makes Nakanamanga one of the largest languages of Vanuatu, an archipelago known for having the world's highest linguistic density.[3]
Phonology[]
This section needs additional citations for verification. (October 2017) |
The consonant and vowels sounds of North Efate (Nguna).[4]
Labial | Dental | Velar | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Stop | plain | p | t̪ | k |
implosive | ɓʷ | |||
Fricative | v | s | ||
Nasal | plain | m | n | ŋ |
prenasal | ᵑm | |||
Liquid | l r | |||
Approximant | w |
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
High | i | u | |
Mid | e | o | |
Low | a |
Subdialects of North Efate include:[5]
- Buninga
- Emau
- Livara
- Nguna
- Paunangis
- Sesake
Typology follows Subject Object Verb order as is observed in Nguna[2]
Verbs and verb classes[]
Verbs are prefixed with other stems that enable them to be differentiated at the morphological level[6]
Two types of Intransitive Verbs:
A Verbs: Actor Subject
U Verbs: Experiencer Subject
Auxiliary verbs[]
Auxiliary verb accessorize main verbs in a pre-verbal complex
Pi[]
The word pi can introduce a predicate nominal or adjective
mai
come
pi
be
afsak
turtle
"Then she became a turtle"
In this case the predicate nominal "turtle" is introduced by the "pi"
mai
come
pi
be
boring a
boring
"It got boring"
In this case the adjective, boring, describing the situation is also introduced by the "pi"
This pi also serves as an designation for equative structures that discern the identity of two entities[6]
nmatu
woman
nen
that
pi
be
nmatu
woman
ni
of
nafet
group
ofisa
officer
"Those women are the wives of all the officers"
The women (subject) are also being ascribed the identity of wives (predicate)
Words like pi serve as existentials, where they serve a presentative function, announcing novel information into the conversation, while also notifying existence of its deignee
Pato[]
The word "pato" signifies the location of a subject
pato
Kwinsland
to
namtu
ga
kin
Jeanie
"He was in Queensland, his wife was Jeanie"
Note how the pato denotes the location of the subject in Queensland, like a general designation of place
me[]
This word is a conjunction that can serve to oppose separate clauses like the word "but" or establish a connection to them like the word "and".[6]
Spray
Spray
traem
try
wou
tell
ki
PREP
me
but
malkio
not want
"They tried to get me to use spray, but I didn't want to"
Notice how the meaning of the "me" is determined by the opposition generated by the last part "not want" which goes against the grain of the sentence effectively signifying the meaning of me as "but"
Tete
some
tae
know
me
but
tete
some
tap
NEG
tae
know
mau
NEG
"Some know, but some don't know"
Again, we see how the "me" is separating the two clauses and signifying an opposition between them because of the negative
Nlaken
because
kai
(Prf)?
sain
sign
reki
for
army
army
nafkal
fight
me
and
pa
go
Because I had signed with the army to fight and then I went"
The adherence of the clauses effectively changes the meaning of the "me" in this sentence, since there are no lexical markers signifying opposition of what the clauses are trying to present. Thus me serves to conjoin both the clauses. From this, one can see that the meaning of "me" is largely driven by the context of the words around it .
Other grammatical facts[]
Interrogative prosody[]
Intonation plays a crucial role in defining a phrase as interrogative, in this case, a characteristic rise and subsequent fall is observed in the last word (often in English this is seen as a rise in the last word of an interrogative phrase) [6]
Tags[]
Tags accessorize a sentence to add data to the question, often accompanied by the proper intonation cues.[6]
ko[]
Serving the purpose as "or", and goes to express that the opposite of the phrase or phenomena it follows could in fact be the reality
lakor
maybe
lek
look
na- map
map
ko
or
"You might have seen a map, or what?"
eh[]
Serving the purpose as "isn't it", and this word serves as a request a repeat of the information. Note, it can be used independently and carries meaning in and of itself. Often in conversation it used by a party seeking clarification on a certain point
Go[]
The Efate word 'go' is analogous to the English 'and' in that it connects two clauses [6]
taos
follow
apap
father
nigmam
1PL.POS
go
and
mama
mother
nigmam
1PL.POS
pak
to
talmat.
garden
"We then followed our father and our mother to the garden"
Na[]
Na is a purposive word that indicates the purpose of an action[6]
totan
sit
na
PURP
fam
eat
"You sit in order to eat."
Clauses[]
The order of clauses is SVO. A sentence consists most basically of a verb stem with a subject.[6]
References[]
- Ray, Sidney H. (1887). "Sketch of Nguna Grammar". The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 16: 409–418. doi:10.2307/2841882. JSTOR 2841882.
- Schütz, Albert J. (1969). "Nguna Grammar". Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications.
Notes[]
- ^ North Efate at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Efate, North". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
- ^ François, Alexandre; Franjieh, Michael; Lacrampe, Sébastien; Schnell, Stefan (2015), "The exceptional linguistic density of Vanuatu", in François, Alexandre; Lacrampe, Sébastien; Franjieh, Michael; Schnell, Stefan (eds.), The Languages of Vanuatu: Unity and Diversity, Studies in the Languages of Island Melanesia, Canberra: Asia Pacific Linguistics Open Access, pp. 1–21, ISBN 9781922185235
- ^ Schütz, Albert J. (1969). Nguna Grammar. Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications.
- ^ "Glottolog 3.3 - North Efate". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Thieberger, Nick. "Efate language" (PDF).
- Central Vanuatu languages
- Languages of Vanuatu