Vaeakau-Taumako language

Vaeakau-Taumako
Vaeakau-Taumako
Pileni
Region	Reef Islands and Taumako, Solomon Islands
Native speakers	(1,700 cited 1999)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Polynesian Futunic ? Vaeakau-Taumako; ; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	piv
Glottolog	pile1238
ELP	Vaeakau-Taumako
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Vaeakau-Taumako (formerly known as Pileni) is a Polynesian language spoken in some of the Reef Islands as well as in the Taumako Islands (also known as the Duff Islands) in the Temotu province of the Solomon Islands.

The language is spoken throughout the Taumako Islands, while in the Reef Islands, it is spoken on Aua, Matema, Nifiloli, Nupani, Nukapu, and Pileni. Speakers are thought^{[by whom?]} to be descendants of people from Tuvalu.

The language has traditionally been considered one of the Futunic group of Polynesian languages, but a 2008 study exclusively based on lexical evidence concluded that this membership is weakly supported.^[2]

Phonology

Vowels

Vaeakau-Taumako does not vary from the standard Polynesian and Austronesian vowel system, featuring five vowels that can be used either in a long or short form. Short vowels found in word-final syllables are frequently devoiced or dropped, but long vowels in the same position are always stressed. There is little allophonic variation between vowel pronunciations.^{[GVT 1]}

	Front	Central	Back
High	i: /i/ and /ī/		u: /u/ and /ū/
Mid	e: /e/ and /ē/		o: /o/ and /ō/
Low		a: /a/ and /ā/

Vowel sequences in Vaeakau-Taumako are typically not treated as diphthongs, as they are not fully reduplicated, as shown in the word "holauhola". This is despite the vowels in the original word being pronounced like a diphthong.^{[GVT 1]}

Consonants

The Vaeakau-Taumako language has one of the most complex consonant system of the Polynesian languages, with 19 distinct phonemes, plus a large amount of variation across dialects. /b/ and /d/ are found primarily in loan words, rather being native to the language.^{[GVT 2]}

Aspirated sounds are characteristic of the language, and are typically strong and audible. However, the use of aspirated sounds varies across dialects, enough that it is difficult to identify a consistent pattern aside from noting they always occur at the start of stressed syllables.^{[GVT 3]}

		Labial	Dentalveolar	Velar
Oral stop	unvoiced, unaspirated unvoiced, aspirated voiced	p pʰ b	t tʰ d	k kʰ
Nasal	voiced, unaspirated unvoiced, aspirated	m mʰ	n nʰ	ŋ ŋʰ
Lateral	voiced, unaspirated unvoiced, aspirated		l lʰ
Fricative	voiced unvoiced	v	s	h

Morphology

Pronouns

Vaeakau-Taumako pronouns distinguish between 1st, 2nd and 3rd person pronouns. There are some inclusive and exclusive distinctions, and variations for singular, dual and plural in all cases. There are no gender distinctions. There is variation in the pronoun system for the dialects of Vaeakau-Taumako which can become quite complex, so for simplicity, only the general forms are recorded here.^{[GVT 4]}

Independent personal pronouns

There are two distinctive base sets of independent personal pronouns in Vaeakau-Taumako. The standard forms are used for formal occasions and recorded text, while the colloquial forms are typically found in informal, everyday conversation.^{[GVT 5]}

		Standard	Colloquial
Singular	1st person 2nd person 3rd person	iau, au koe ia
Dual	1st person inclusive 1st person exclusive 2nd person 3rd person	thaua mhuaua khoulua, kholua lhaua	haua houlua, holua haua
Plural	1st person inclusive 1st person exclusive 2nd person 3rd person	thatou, thatu mihatou, mhatu khoutou, khotou lhatou, lhatu	hatou, hatu houtou hatou, hatu

Bound subject pronouns

The language also features bound subject pronouns which act as clitics to the tense-aspect-mood marker of the verb of the constituent. They are not obligatory to use. The presence of the "u" has free variation by the choice of the speaker, but they are typically less prevalent in the colloquial forms.^{[GVT 6]}

		Standard	Colloquial
Singular	1st person 2nd person 3rd person	u=, ku= ko= ø
Dual	1st person inclusive 1st person exclusive 2nd person 3rd person	tha(u)= mha(u)= khol(u)= lha(u)=	ha= hol(u)= ha=
Plural	1st person inclusive 1st person exclusive 2nd person 3rd person	that(u)= mhat(u)= khot(u)= lhat(u)=	hat(u)= hot(u)= hat(u)=

Hortative pronouns

The dual, plural and 2nd person singular have specific pronouns used in imperative and hortative sentences.^{[GVT 7]}

	Singular	Dual	Plural
1st person inclusive		ta	tatu, hatu, tatou
1st person exclusive		ma	matu
2nd person	ko	lu	tu
3rd person		la	latu, hatu

Emphatic corefential pronouns

When the subject and direct object of a sentence are the same thing, repetition of the independent pronoun in place of both argument positions is typically used. However, there is a set of emphatic coreferential pronouns used for the direct object to refer to someone or a group of people acting alone.^{[GVT 8]}

	Singular	Dual	Plural
1st person inclusive		okhitaua	okithatou
1st person exclusive	okhoiau	okhimaua	okimhatou
2nd person	okhoe	okhoulua	okhoutou
3rd person	okhoia	okhilaua	okilhatou

The general pronoun nga

The word nga functions as a pronoun with specific use. It is a third person pronoun, but lacks specification for number, and is used to refer to both singular and plural referents. It typically is an anaphoric reference to a previously mentioned referent.^{[GVT 9]}

Possession

Control

While it is common for Polynesian languages to distinguish between alienability and inalienability with a and o possessives, this is not the case for Vaeakau-Taumako. This distinction exists, however it instead marks control – not of the possessed item itself, but of the possessive relationship.^{[GVT 10]}

A-possessives

Relationships that can be initiated or terminated freely, such as items that can be bought, sold or given away at will are marked with the a-possessive.^{[GVT 10]}

O-possessives

Relationships that are outside of the possessor's personal control, such as body parts and kinship relationships are marked with o-possessives.^{[GVT 10]}

Alienability and inalienability

Instead of a- and o- possessives, alienability and inalienability in Vaeakau-Taumako are distinguished by the use of either prenominal or postnominal possessive pronouns.^{[GVT 11]}

Prenominal possessive pronouns

Prenominal possessive pronouns occur directly preceding the possessed nouns, and are typically used for inalienable relationships, such as kinship terms and body parts.^{[GVT 12]} Prenominal possessive pronouns distinguish between singular, dual and plural of the possessor. The singular possessive forms make an additional distinction between singular and plural of the possessed entity, and encode the a- or o-possessive directly. The dual and plural possessor forms are combined with the possessive prepositions a and o to express this distinction, or they may occur without a preposition.^{[GVT 11]}

		Singular possessed	Plural possessed
Singular	1st person 2nd person 3rd person	taku, toku/tuku tau, tō tana, tona, tena, na	aku, oku au, ou/ō ana, ona
Dual	1st person inclusive 1st person inclusive 2nd person 3rd person	(a/o) ta (a/o) ma (a/o) lu (a/o) la
Plural	1st person inclusive 1st person exclusive 2nd person 3rd person	(a/o) tatu (a/o) matu (a/o) koto, (a/o) tu (a/o) latu

Postnominal possessive pronouns

The postnominal possessive pronoun succeeds the possessed noun, and are used to mark alienable relationships, such as owned items. They make no distinction between singular and plural of the possessed item, instead the distinction is usually made through the choice of article preceding the possessed noun. Like with prenominal possessive pronouns, the postnominal possessives are based on the possessive prepositions a and o, plus a pronominal form indicating person and number of the possessor. In the singular form, this is the same set of suffixes found on the prenominal possessives, whereas in the dual and plural form, a distinct set of person and number forms are found. In the third and first person, these forms are identical to the independent personal pronouns, except for the lack of aspiration on the initial consonant.^{[GVT 13]}

	Singular	Dual	Plural
1st person inclusive		taua	tatou
1st person exclusive	aku, oku	maua	matou
2nd person	au, ou	aulua, oulua	autou, outou
3rd person	ana, ona	laua	latou

Possessive Suffixes

The possessive suffixes -ku (1st person), -u (2nd person) and -na (3rd person) apply to a restricted set of kinship nouns: tama/mha ‘father’, hina ‘mother’, thoka ‘same-sex sibling’, thupu ‘grandparent’, and mokupu ‘grandchild’. These nouns cannot occur without possessive marking, they require either a possessive suffix or, in the dual and plural, a postnominal possessive pronoun.^{[GVT 14]} An alternative construction is for these nouns to take the 3rd person possessive suffix -na in combination with a prenominal possessive pronoun or possessive prepositional phrase. The form in -na must in such cases be understood as a neutral or unmarked form, since it may combine with a pronoun of any person and number; but a form in -na without any further possessive marking is unambiguously 3rd person.^{[GVT 15]} Nouns other than those previously mentioned do not take possessive suffixes, but instead combine with possessive pronouns.^{[GVT 16]}

References

References from Næss, Åshild; Hovdhaugen, Even (2011). A Grammar of Vaeakau-Taumako. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. ISBN 978-3-11-023826-6.:

^ ^a ^b p.28
^ p.34-35
^ p.36
^ p.98
^ p.99-100
^ p.103-104
^ p.105
^ p.106
^ p.106-107
^ ^a ^b ^c p.109
^ ^a ^b p.111
^ p.112
^ p.115
^ p.147
^ p.148
^ p.149.

Other sources

^ Vaeakau-Taumako at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database

External links

[p28-3] .28

[4] .34-35

[5] .36

[6] .98

[7] .99-100

[8] .103-104

[9] .105

[10] .106

[11] .106-107

[p109-12] .109

[p111-13] .111

[14] .112

[15] .115

[16] .147

[17] .148

[18] .149.

[e18-1] Vaeakau-Taumako at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[2] Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database

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